By EDWARD HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

The Quincy City Council is being asked to update the city's building codes.

The Planning and Development Department is recommending the city adopt a series of 2006 international codes for the construction and maintenance of new homes and commercial structures. The codes also cover the rehab of existing buildings.

Quincy now uses the 2000 International Building Code as the framework for its various building codes, but that version is considered outmoded for certain construction elements.

Chuck Bevelheimer, director of planning and development, said the Insurance Services Office in Chicago warned city officials that Quincy stands to receive a worse rating for insurance purposes on the "building code effective grading schedule" if it doesn't adopt more relevant building codes.

The city currently has a 4 rating on the ISO scale, but it could drop to 9 if new codes aren't adopted by Aug. 20, Bevelheimer said. A lower rating could conceivably lead to higher insurance premiums for property owners.

Aldermen were given copies of the proposed building code changes last week. City officials were hoping the council would consider the amendments at tonight's council meeting, which begins at 7 in City Hall. However, the building code issue was not listed on the agenda.

Bevelheimer said aldermen "can take their time" adopting the amendments. But he's hoping the council will act soon because the city is overdue in updating its codes.

"The city should be working off of the most recent codes just from a pragmatic standpoint," he said. "If we're going to assure the public that the buildings that they go in and out of every day are safe, then we have to make sure that the buildings are being built to the code that is the most recent code out there."

Bevelheimer said new international codes are released every three years but the city typically updates its codes to match the latest standards every six years.

Most of the changes being recommended this year involve wording that provides greater clarification "so that people can better understand exactly what the code is saying," he said.

Some changes, however, will have a significant impact on construction. Bevelheimer said the city's inspection staff met twice with the Quincy Home Builders Association to discuss the changes.

For instance, one concern of home builders involved a new residential requirement for an emergency egress window in the basement of all new homes, except when the basement is used only to house mechanical equipment or when its total floor area doesn't exceed 200 square feet.

The city's current building code only requires a window when a sleeping room is planned for a basement.

"The new code says flat out you've got to put one in if it's anything more than a mechanical room," Bevelheimer said.

An egress window adds to the cost of building a home. However, it will make the home safer, which is the point of having a building code in the first place.

"The idea is to make this thing as safe as possible," Bevelheimer said.

Also new is a code provision that empowers the inspection office to conduct a final walk-through inspection of all new dwellings before an occupancy permit is issued. Currently, the staff inspects the dwelling during construction but doesn't perform a final occupancy inspection. No fee will be charged for the final inspection.

The new standards also include the international existing building code, which gives inspectors more flexibility in applying safe standards for rehab projects instead of requiring rigid new construction standards. The international code removes certain rehab barriers "while maintaining acceptable levels of safety," Bevelheimer said.

"I think that will be extremely helpful when we've got the amount of historic building stock that we have in Quincy," he said.

-- ehusar@whig.com/221-3378