City of Williston, ND Building Code

Wherever the word "municipality" is used in the building code adopted in this article, it shall be held to mean the City of Williston, North Dakota.

Wherever the term "corporate counsel" is used in the building code, it shall be held to mean the attorney for the City of Williston, North Dakota.

§ 5-13 Williston Commercial Building Code.

§ 5-13.1 Amendments.

[Ord. No. 997-A §§ 1-5, 5-27-2014]

Section 105.2 Work exempt from permit be amended, and as amended be enacted as follows:

Sec. 105.2. Work exempt from permit.
Exemptions from permit requirements of this code shall not be deemed to grant authorization for any work to be done in any manner in violation of the provisions of this code or any other laws or ordinances of this jurisdiction. Permits shall not be required for the following: Building:
1.	One-story detached accessory structures used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses, provided the floor area is not greater than 120 square feet (11 m²).
2.	Fences not over 8.5 feet in height.
3.	Oil derricks.
4.	Retaining walls that are not over four feet (1,219 mm) in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge or impounding Class I, II or IIIA liquids.
5.	Water tanks supported directly on grade if the capacity is not greater than 5,000 gallons (18,925 L) and the ratio of height to diameter or width is not greater than 2:1.
6.	Sidewalks and driveways.
7.	Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops and similar finish work.
8.	Temporary motion picture, television and theater stage sets and scenery.
9.	Prefabricated swimming pools accessory to a Group R-3 occupancy that are less than 24 inches (610 mm) deep, are not greater than 5,000 gallons (18,925 L) and are installed entirely above ground.
10.	Shade cloth structures constructed for nursery or agricultural purposes, not including service systems.
11.	Swings and other playground equipment accessory to detached one- and two-family dwellings.
12.	Window awnings in Group R-3 and U occupancies, supported by an exterior wall that do not project more than 54 inches (1,372 mm) from the exterior wall and do not require additional support.
13.	Nonfixed and movable fixtures, cases, racks, counters and partitions not over five feet nine inches (1,753 mm) in height.

(b)

Section 107.3.1 Approval of construction documents be amended, and as amended be enacted as follows:

Sec. 107.3.1. Approval of construction documents.

When the building official issues a permit, the construction documents shall be approved, in writing or by stamp, as "Reviewed for Code Compliance." One set of construction documents so reviewed shall be retained by the building official. The other set shall be returned to the applicant, shall be kept at the site of work and shall be open to inspection by the building official or a duly authorized representative.

(c)

Section 406.3.4 Separation, be added, and as added be enacted as follows:

Sec. 406.3.4. Separation.
Separations shall comply with the following:
1. The private garage shall be separated from the dwelling unit and its attic area by means of gypsum board, not less than 1/2 inch (12.7 mm) in thickness, applied to the garage side. Garages beneath habitable rooms shall be separated from all habitable rooms above by not less than a 5/8-inch (15.9 mm) Type X gypsum board or equivalent and 1/2-inch (12.7 mm) gypsum board applied to structures supporting the separation from habitable rooms above the garage. Door openings between a private garage and the dwelling unit shall be equipped with either solid wood doors or solid or honeycomb core steel doors not less than 13/8 inches (34.9 mm) in thickness, or doors in compliance with Section 716.5.3 with a fire protection rating of not less than 20 minutes. Openings from a private garage directly into a room used for sleeping purposes shall not be permitted. Doors shall be self-closing and self-latching.

(d)

Section 1510 Reroofing be added, and as added be enacted as follows:

Sec. 1510. Reroofing.

The City of Williston adopts and incorporates Appendix N of the 2012 International Building Code into the City's Building Code.

(e)

Section 3109 Swimming Pool Enclosures and Safety Devices be added, and as added be enacted as follows:

Sec. 3109. Swimming pool enclosures and safety devices

The City of Williston adopts and incorporates Appendix O of the 2012 International Building Code into the City's Building Code.

§ 5-14 Williston Residential Building Code.

§ 5-14.1 Amendments.

[Ord. No. 997-B §§ 1-5, 5-27-2014]

Section R105.2 Work exempt from permit be amended, and as amended be enacted as follows:

Sec. R105.2. Work exempt from permit.

Permits shall not be required for the following. Exemption from permit requirements of this code shall not be deemed to grant authorization for any work to be done in any manner in violation of the provisions of this code or any other laws or ordinances of this jurisdiction. Building:

1. One-story detached accessory structures used as tool and storage sheds, playhouses and similar uses, provided the floor area does not exceed 120 square feet (18.58 m²).

2. Fences not over 8.5 feet (2,134 mm) high.

3. Retaining walls that are not over four feet (1,219 mm) in height measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, unless supporting a surcharge.

4. Water tanks supported directly upon grade if the capacity does not exceed 5,000 gallons (18,927 L) and the ratio of height to diameter or width does not exceed two to one.

5. Sidewalks and driveways.

6. Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops and similar finish work.

7. Prefabricated swimming pools that are less than 24 inches (610 mm) deep.

8. Swings and other playground equipment.

9. Window awnings supported by an exterior wall which do not project more than 54 inches (1,372 mm) from the exterior wall and do not require additional support.

10. Decks not exceeding 200 square feet (18.58 m²) in area, that are not more than 30 inches (762 mm) above grade at any point, are not attached to a dwelling and do not serve the exit door required by Section R311.4.

(b) Section 302.5.1 Opening protection be amended, and as amended be enacted as follows:

Sec. 302.5.1. Opening protection.

Openings from a private garage directly into a room used for sleeping purposes shall not be permitted. Other openings between the garage and residence shall be equipped with solid wood doors not less than 13/8 inches (35 mm) in thickness, solid or honeycomb-core steel doors not less than 13/8 (35 mm) thick, or twenty-minute fire-rated doors, equipped with self-closing device.

Sec. R312.1.1. Where required.

Guards shall be located along open-sided walking surfaces, including stairs, ramps, and landings that are located more than 30 inches (762 mm) measured vertically to the floor or grade below at any point within 36 inches (914 mm) horizontally to the edge of the open side. Insect screening shall not be considered as a guard.

(d) Section R403.1.4.1 Frost protection be added, and as added be enacted as follows:

Sec. R403.1.4.1. Frost protection.

Except where otherwise protected from frost, foundation walls, piers and other permanent supports of buildings and structures shall be protected from frost by one or more of the following methods:

1. Extended below the frost line specified in Table R301.2.(1);

2. Constructing in accordance with Section R403.3;

3. Constructing in accordance with ASCE 32; or

4. Erected on solid rock.

Exceptions:

1. Protection of freestanding accessory structures with an area of 600 square feet (56 m²) or less, of light-frame construction, with an eave height of 10 feet (3,048 mm) or less shall not be required.

2. Protection of freestanding accessory structures with an area of 400 square feet (37 m²) or less, of other than light-frame construction, with an eave height of 10 feet (3,048 mm) or less shall not be required.

3. Decks not supported by a dwelling need not be provided with footings that extend below the frost line. Footings shall not bear on frozen soil unless the frozen condition is permanent.

(e) Section R907 Reroofing be added, and as added be enacted as follows:

Sec. R907. Reroofing.

The City of Williston hereby adopts Appendix R of the 2012 I.R.C. in its entirety.

§ 5-15 City Building Official — Office established.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989; Ord. No. 836, 8-8-2000]

The office of the City Building Official is hereby created, and the executive official in charge shall be known as the City Building Official.

The City Building Official shall be appointed by the Board of City Commissioners.

During the temporary absence or disability of the City Building Official, the appointing authority shall designate an acting City Building Official.

§ 5-16 Same — Qualifications.

[Ord. No. 72, 11-14-1989]

To be eligible to appointment, the candidate for the position of City Building Official shall have qualifications acceptable to the Board of City Commissioners, preferably with experience as an architect, structural engineer, building official, or superintendent of building construction. He shall be in good health and physically capable of making the necessary examinations and inspections. He shall not have any interest whatever, directly or indirectly, in the sale or manufacture of any material, process or device, entering into or used in or in connection with building construction, alterations removal and demolition.

§ 5-17 Same — Duties generally.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989; Ord. No. 812, 4-13-1999]

The City Building Official shall devote adequate time to the duties of his office. He shall receive applications required by this code, issue permits and furnish the prescribed certificates. He shall examine premises for which permits have been issued and shall make necessary inspections to see that the provisions of law are complied with and that construction is prosecuted safely. He shall enforce all provisions of the building code. He shall, when requested by proper authority, or when the public so requires, make investigations in connection with matters referred to in the building code and render written reports on the same. To enforce compliance with law, to remove illegal or unsafe conditions, to secure the necessary safeguards during construction or to require adequate exit facilities in buildings and structures, he shall issue notices or orders as may be necessary.

Inspections required under the provisions of the building code shall be made by the City Building Official or his duly appointed assistant. The City Building Official may accept reports of inspectors of recognized inspection services, after investigation of their qualifications and reliability. No certificate called for by any provision of the building code shall be issued on such reports unless the same are in writing and certified to by a responsible officer of such service.

The City Building Official shall keep comprehensive records of applications, of permits issued, of certificates issued or inspections made, or reports rendered, and of notices or orders issued. He shall retain on file copies of required plans and all documents relating to building work so long as any part of the building or structure to which they relate may be in existence.

(4)

All such records shall be open to public inspection for good and sufficient reasons at the stated office hours, but shall not be removed from the office of the City Building Official without his written consent.

(5)

The City Building Official shall make written reports to his immediate superior once each month, or more often if required, including statements of permits and certificates issued and orders promulgated.

(6)

The City Building Official shall also serve as plumbing inspector, if no other provisions for a plumbing inspector are made.

§ 5-18 through § 5-20. (Reserved)

§ 5-21 Issuance of permits — Declaration of policy.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989]

In order to provide for adequate ingress and egress to streets, open spaces for light and air, avoid congestion of population, provide for traffic, utilities, access of fire-fighting apparatus and improve the public health, safety and general welfare of the jurisdiction of the City, it is hereby declared necessary to require certain requisites for issuance of a building permit.

§ 5-22 Contractors — State license and insurance required.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989]

The City Building Official shall issue building permits only to persons licensed and bonded as contractors by the State of North Dakota.

Prior to the issuance of any building permit, the contractor shall file with the City Building Official a copy of the contractor's license or renewal which includes the class of license held by the contractor, and the date on which the license was issued or renewed.

The City Building Official shall further require the contractor to show proof of liability insurance in the sum of at least $100,000 for injury or death to one person and $300,000 for injury or death for more than one person in any accident and $100,000 for property damage in any one accident arising out of the operation of the applicant's business.

Nothing in this section shall prohibit the City Building Official from issuing a building permit to any person owning property for work on his own property.

§ 5-23 Permit fees — Generally.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989; Ord. No. 822, 3-28-2000]

No permit nor any amendment thereof as required by the building code shall be issued until the prescribed fee has been paid or suitable arrangements have been made for payment. No permit shall be issued to any contractor who has an amount overdue for prior permits. The procedures for billing permits shall be adopted by the City Building Official and require that any contractor who does not pay for a permit at the time it is picked up will have 30 days to pay the invoice for all permits issued to such contractor. The fee for any permit shall be established by resolution by the Board of City Commissioners. The building official shall have the right to refuse to charge to any contractor who has failed in the past to make full payment of a properly billed permit fee within 30 days of such billing being sent.

§ 5-24 (Reserved)

§ 5-25 Effect of other ordinances.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989]

The provisions of this article are hereby declared to be cumulative and supplemental to existing ordinances, and in interpreting and applying the provisions of this article, they shall be held to be the minimum for the promotion of the public safety, health, convenience, comfort, prosperity and general welfare, and such provisions are intended to be cumulative and supplemental to the zoning ordinances and other ordinances of the City relating to the use of buildings or premises, and shall not interfere with, abrogate or annul any easements, covenants or agreements between parties, and wherever the provisions of this chapter impose greater restrictions as to use, or require stricter building requirements that those required by the zoning ordinance, or other ordinances, the provisions of this article shall control.

§ 5-26 (Reserved)

§ 5-27 Interpretation.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989]

Wherever in the building regulations it is provided that anything must be done to the approval of, or subject to the direction of the City Building Official or any other officer of the City, this shall be construed to give such officer only the discretion of determining whether the rules and standards established by ordinance have been complied with; no such provision shall be construed as giving any officer discretionary powers as to what such regulations or standards shall be, or power to require conditions not prescribed by ordinance or to enforce ordinance provisions in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner.

§ 5-28 Standards.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989; Ord. No. 812, 4-13-1999; Ord. No. 863, 2-11-2003]

All work on the construction, alteration and repair of buildings and other structures shall be performed in a good, workmanlike manner according to accepted standards and practices in the trade. The provisions of the State Building Code as adopted by the State of North Dakota shall be considered to be standard and acceptable practice for all matters concerning building construction not otherwise provided for by ordinance.

§ 5-29 Permit required.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989; Ord. No. 863, 2-11-2003]

It shall be unlawful to construct any building or structure, other than a fence, in the jurisdiction of the City where the cost of such construction exceeds $2,000, or to alter or remodel any building or structure so as to change the bearing walls, beams, supports, without having first secured a permit therefor, or in violation of the terms of such permit or in violation of the terms of this article. Notwithstanding this section, all work on commercial buildings and replacement or relocation of required exits requires a permit.

§ 5-30 Jurisdictional area.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989]

The administration and enforcement of the building code shall include the "jurisdictional area" within which the City has zoning jurisdiction under the provisions of Chapter 40-47, and Chapter 40-48 of the North Dakota Century Code.

§ 5-31 Subsequent amendments, supplements, rules and additions.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989; Ord. No. 863, 2-11-2003]

The provisions of the State Building Code may be amended, supplemented, added to and modified; this article shall be implemented by and may be amended by rules promulgated by the State of North Dakota Construction Superintendent, pursuant to the authority vested in him through Section 54-21-193.03 of the North Dakota Century Code, and by subsequent amendments approved by the membership of the International Code Council, provided that copies of any such amendments, rules promulgated, and modifications shall be kept on file in the City Auditor's office for inspection and provided further that three copies shall be furnished to the building official.

§ 5-32 Regulating the design and construction of metal buildings.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989; Ord. No. 863, 2-11-2003]

Section 5-11 of this Code adopting a building code shall be amended to include the following regulations:

Metal buildings shall have straight sidewalks, which are erected at a 90° angle to the building foundation.

All siding on metal buildings shall be colored by using a manufactured process.

All metal buildings shall have a minimum wind load of at least 80 miles per hour wind load and a minimum live roof load of at least 30 pounds per square foot.

§ 5-33 through § 5-35. (Reserved) [1]

[1]

Editor's Note: Former sections 5-33-195-35 pertaining to monolithic concrete slab floor for pre-engineered buildings, previously codified herein and containing portions of Ordinance No. 726, were repealed in their entirety by Ordinance No. 863, adopted February 11, 2003.

§ 5-36 Same — Soil types and bearing capacities.

[Ord. No. 726, 11-14-1989]

All submittals for plan examination of monolithic slabs for buildings or structures, and for the alteration of a permanent structure which requires changes in foundation loads and distribution, shall have the soil types and bearing capacities and foundations shown on the plans. Sufficient records and data to establish the soil character, nature and load-bearing capacity shall be available to the department upon request.

Bearing capacity of soil shall be determined by one of the following methods:

Verified. The soil shall be subjected to field or laboratory tests to determine its bearing capacity. A report certified by a registered architect or registered professional engineer, shall be available to the department upon request.

Presumptive.

The type of soil under buildings shall be assigned a value not exceeding the bearing capacity, in pounds per square foot, as specified by Table I. The type of soil shall be determined by exploration made at or adjacent to the site. The actual loading of the soil shall not exceed the specified bearing capacity unless verified by a written report [as explained in paragraph (a) above].

Table I
Presumptive Soil Bearing Values
Type of Soil		PSF
1.	Wet soft clay; very loose silt; silty clay	Verified method Ind 53.21(1)
2.	Loose fine sand; medium clay; loose sandy clay soils	2,000
3.	Stiff clay; firm inorganic silt	3,000
4.	Medium (firm) sand; loose sandy gravel; firm sandy clay soils; hard dry clay	4,000
5.	Dense sand and gravel; very compact mixture of clay, sand and gravel	6,000
6.	Rock	12,000

The presumed soil bearing values shall be confirmed by exploring the type of soil to a depth of at least five feet below the footings during or before construction. The designer shall submit a report of confirmation to the department upon request.

Where the bearing materials directly under a foundation overlie a stratum having smaller allowable bearing values, such smaller values shall not be exceeded at the level of such stratum.

No foundation of buildings or structures shall be placed upon unprepared fill material, organic soil, alluvial soil or mud unless evidence has been presented to the department showing that the proposed load will be adequately supported. This evidence shall be in the form of a written report and shall be based on soil analyses, load tests or other acceptable criteria.

(4)

Frost penetration.

Footings and foundations shall be placed below the frost penetration level, but in no case less than 50 inches below adjacent ground. Such footings shall not be placed over frozen material.

Exceptions.

The edges of monolithic slabs constructed on grade need not be installed below the minimum frost penetration line provided adequate measures have been taken to prevent frost forces from damaging the structure.

Grade beams need not be installed to the minimum frost penetration line, provided adequate measures are taken to prevent frost forces from damaging the structure.

§ 5-36A Family child day care and group child-care homes for Group E occupancy requirements.

[Ord. No. 810, 4-28-1998; Ord. No. 863, 2-11-2003; amended 5-13-2019 by Ord. No. 1103]

All group child-care homes licensed as of December 31, 1997, shall be allowed to continue to have up to 30 children in the day-care home as long as it remains licensed by the State of North Dakota. The City of Williston Building Official shall have the authority to require any reasonable modification necessary to provide for the safety of children in such homes, but such homes need not meet all the State Building Code E Occupancy Requirements.

Effective January 1, 1998, any newly licensed group child-care homes shall comply with the E Occupancy Requirement of the State Building Code as amended or as hereafter may be amended to conform to local needs.