To promote and protect public health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Borough of Baldwin and for the purpose of codifying and regulating the design, construction, alteration, demolition, extension, repair and removal of all buildings, homes, structures and/or edifices in the Borough of Baldwin, and to prescribe reasonable standards for the use of materials, roofing and construction components in such structures in the Borough, the Borough Council of the Borough of Baldwin hereby adopts that certain building code known as the "Boca National Building Code (1996 Edition) of the Building Officials and Code Administration International, Inc.," hereinafter referred to as the "code," as hereinafter modified. Copies of the code have been and are now on file in the office of the Borough Secretary of the Borough of Baldwin. The provisions, standards, specifications and interpretations of the aforesaid code are hereby adopted by reference to the same, and they are incorporated herein as fully as if they had been set out at length herein.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also uniform construction codes adoption in Ch. 83, Construction Codes, Uniform, and adoption of building and other international codes in § 131-2, Adoption of standards, in Ch. 131, Property Maintenance.
Any references in the aforesaid code to terms such as "municipality," "city" or any other reference to a governmental authority shall be held to mean the Borough of Baldwin; any terms used in the code referring to building inspector, inspector, code officer or other person authorized to enforce the code shall be held to mean the Code Enforcement Officer, the Zoning Officer of the Borough of Baldwin or any inspectors hired by the Borough to accomplish the purposes set out in this chapter. The Borough Council of the Borough of Baldwin is hereby authorized to appoint and hire inspectors to carry out the provisions of this chapter, but the Code Enforcement Officer and/or the Zoning Officer of the Borough of Baldwin shall be the primary official responsible for the administration and enforcement of this chapter.
Before any work of construction, alteration, extension, repair, demolition or removal of any building, house, edifice or structure is begun, approval of the plans and specifications pertaining to such building, house, edifice or structure shall be required to be obtained from the Zoning Officer of the Borough; the plans and specifications sought to be approved shall be submitted by the owner, or the agent or employee of such owner, and shall be in such form and manner as is more specifically required in the code. The submission of such plans and specifications shall be accompanied by a check or money order in an amount as required under the resolutions of the Borough of Baldwin adopted from time to time and shall include, if required, engineering and architectural certification.
All terms used in this chapter shall be defined as the same are more fully defined in the code, except that in the event that there is a conflict between the definitions contained in the code and terms that are defined in the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Baldwin, as amended,[1] then the definition as set forth in the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Baldwin shall prevail. For these purposes, the definitions section of the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Baldwin is incorporated herein by reference thereto, the same as though it had been fully set forth herein at length.[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 168, Zoning.
[2]
Editor's Note: See § 168-12, Definitions, of the Zoning Ordinance.
The code adopted herein is hereby modified in the following respects:
A. 
The provisions of Chapter 29 relating to plumbing systems shall, where applicable, be subordinated in favor of the ordinances of the County of Allegheny relating to plumbing systems; where a conflict appears in the ordinances of the County of Allegheny and Chapter 29 of the code, the County provisions shall prevail.
B. 
Any reference to signs, their size, height, etc., where stated in the code shall be subordinated to the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance of the Borough of Baldwin insofar as relates to signs.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 168, Zoning, and specifically § 168-29, Signs.
C. 
Chapter 13 of the code relating to energy conservation shall be subordinated in favor of the ordinances of the County of Allegheny relating to energy and energy conservation, and where a conflict appears in the ordinances of the County of Allegheny and Chapter 13 of the code, the County provisions shall prevail.
D. 
Section 104.1 is hereby amended by deleting the same in its entirety and substituting therefor the following: "The Code Enforcement Officer of the Borough of Baldwin is hereby designated and appointed as the Code Official."
E. 
Section 112.0 relating to fees is deleted in its entirety and substituted therefor is the following: "The Borough shall from time to time by resolution designate fees for new construction, alteration, removal, demolition or other building operations, and no permits shall be issued until the fees prescribed by such resolutions shall have been paid to the Borough. The Borough Council shall, from time to time, designate the amount of the fees; the current resolution in effect in the Borough of Baldwin relating to fees shall continue in full force and effect until amended, modified or changed by the Borough Council."
F. 
Section 116.4 is deleted and § 74-10 hereafter substituted in lieu thereof.
G. 
Section 121.0 et seq. of the code is deleted in its entirety and substituted therefor shall be the following: "Any person shall have the right to appeal by requesting the Code Enforcement Officer and/or the Zoning Officer to seek an interpretation of the ordinance from the Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc.; in the event that such a decision is adverse to the applicant, or not forthcoming, the applicant may then request that an arbitrator be appointed to determine the issue and to render a decision. The arbitrator shall be an architect selected by the Borough and the applicant. All costs of the arbitrator shall be paid for by the applicant."
H. 
Chapter 4, Section 421.0 et seq., relating to swimming pools, shall be construed in conjunction with the provisions set out in the code and in relation to other ordinances of the Borough of Baldwin relating to swimming pools, and the most stringent of the codes shall apply; provided, however, that in the event that any question arises as to which code is the more stringent, then the provisions of the Borough of Baldwin ordinances relating to swimming pools shall prevail.
I. 
Section 1810.3.1 of the code is deleted in its entirety and substituted therefor is the following: "Plain concrete as it relates to concrete footings shall be followed except that the following minimums shall be observed: a) Footer sizes are to be a minimum of eight inches in depth and a minimum of 20 inches in width; b) Footers must be as the same are referred to in Section 1806.1 hereof and shall have the further limitation that the footers must be below frost line, which is a minimum of 36 inches; c) Further, Section 1806.1 shall be limited to the extent that concrete shall not be poured under 20° F."
J. 
Section 1904.3.1 and Section 1810.3.1 are hereby amended by adding the additional requirement that footers must be inspected before any concrete shall be poured.
K. 
Section 1816.1 shall be amended by adding to the six requirements set out therein the following:
"7.
When pilings must be used, the pilings must have a minimum sixteen-inch diameter.
8.
Pilings must have a minimum of four one-half-inch rods protruding into the footer at least three feet.
9.
Pilings must be set on solid ground.
10.
Pilings must not be more than 10 feet apart.
11.
Grade beams must be a minimum of 18 inches deep and 20 inches wide and must have eight-and-one-half-inch rods, four of them three inches from the top, and four of them three inches from the bottom of the footer."
L. 
Chapter 19, Section 1905, shall be amended by adding thereto: "Four inches or greater of concrete floor shall be used in garage areas."
M. 
Chapter 18, Section 1809, shall be amended by adding to the same the following: "Beams and girders must be laid on solid masonry or tempered brick or filled cores if hollow unit masonry is used."
N. 
Chapter 18, Section 1813.0, shall be amended by adding thereto the following: "French drains containing four-inch perforated pipe and gravel around the perimeter (outside house) of the building where required shall be used in addition to crushed stone."
O. 
Chapter 23, Section 2305, shall be amended by adding the following: "Bridging will be used in all construction, two inch by eight inch or greater." Chapter 15, Section 1502.1, shall be amended by adding to the definition of roof structure the following: "and shall contain not less than one-half-inch-by-four-feet-by-eight-feet plywood or greater with clips."
P. 
Chapter 23, Section 2305.1, shall be amended by adding thereto the following: "All framing shall be two inches by four inches by 16 inches on center. The first floor in two-story dwellings shall have a double top plate, inside corners solid, and shall contain no drywall clips."
Q. 
Chapter 23, Section 2305.1, shall be amended by adding thereto the following: "Such design and construction shall require double two-inch-by-four-inch studs in bearing wall, if plates are cut both sides for heat duct chase, or return-air bay."
R. 
Chapter 12, Section 1210.1, shall be amended by adding to the same the following: "Notwithstanding the foregoing, 50% of the required ventilating area must be through ridge vents or gable venting; 25% of the required ventilating area must be through eave or cornice vents on front, and 25% must be on the rear of the building."
S. 
Chapter 1, Section 113, is hereby amended by adding to Section 113.5 the following: "All requests for inspection shall require at least a forty-eight-hour notice."