The
Ohio legislature first authorized construction regulation in 1911
through legislative action, and although very limited, it covered
various aspects of construction, repair, sanitation, and fire
protection.In 1955 the legislature authorized adoption of a state
building code by administrative, rather than legislative, procedure
and designated the Board of Building Standards as the responsible
administrative agency. Ohio wrote and maintained its own building
code, the Ohio Building Code, using the Board of Building Standards,
the Board’s staff, and a few outside consultants.The state legislature
specifically exempted 1-, 2-, 3-family dwellings and agricultural
buildings.
In
1973, the Ohio Building Officials
Association (OBOA) requested the Board of Building Standards
to adopt a national model code in place of the Ohio Building Code
(OBC). The OBC had originally been developed by the Board
in conjunction with several professors at Case Western University
and the University of Akron in the 1950's. OBOA made this
request because the Board had not continued to update the building
code since 1971. After receiving the request, the Board
decided that it would explore having the Building Construction
Laboratory at Ohio State University update the existing code.
In
1976, there was a change in administrations. OBOA again
requested the Board to adopt one of the national model building
codes. The Board instructed staff to compare the ICBO
uniform code, the BOCA national
code, and the SBCCI southern
standard code. In 1977, the Board held a series of open
hearings (hearings open to the public, but not mandated by the
Ohio Administrative Procedures Act) to get input from the building
construction industry and from the code enforcement agencies.
In 1978, the Board decided to use the BOCA National Building and
Mechanical Model Codes. Staff changed those sections of
the basic model codes that conflicted with the Ohio Revised Code
(statutory
law) to bring it into compliance with the General Assembly’s
legislation. Rule filings were then done in accordance with
Sections 119.03 and 119.04, Ohio Revised Code, and a public hearing
was held. After public hearing, the Board adopted the BOCA
codes as the Ohio Basic Building Codes on September 29, 1978.
The Board set an effective date of July 1, 1979, for the OBBC.
The
July 1, 1979, effective date was set to allow the building construction
industry, design professionals, and enforcement agencies to familiarize
and educate themselves concerning the code. The Board also
made several major changes to the original adoption in May and
June, 1979, as a result of industry input. The enforcement
agency at the state level (Ohio has a dual enforcement system;
i.e., local governments have the option of being certified to
enforce the state code and, if they don’t, a state agency does
the enforcement) allowed plans to be submitted between July 1,
1979, and September 30, 1979, under either OBC (the outgoing code)
or under OBBC, the new code. This allowed for a smooth transition.
Since
that time the Ohio Board of Building Standards has adopted building
code requirements based upon BOCA model code documents that were
modified to be consistent with Ohio law. The adoption history
for the codes has been as shown in the table below.
