After months of drafting, the La Plata County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a new fire code, updating its regulations for the first time in 13 years.

The new code is likely to have a relatively minimal impact on the layperson, although officials say it will streamline the application and approval process for permits.

Building codes are developed by the International Code Council and then tailored by county officials to meet the specific needs of the region. A suite of building codes was adopted in 2017 using the 2015 building codes, however the fire and energy codes were not updated at that time.

Until Tuesday, La Plata County had fire regulations based on the 2003 international fire code. Officials chose not to pursue an even more up-to-date fire code in order to keep all county codes consistent with one another.

“These codes are all designed to work together as a unit,” said Durango Fire Protection District Fire Marshall Karola Hanks. “And so what you had is one aspect of that family not functioning with the rest of the family.”

A multi-page legal notice with the full language of the new fire code ran in June 28 print editions of The Durango Herald.

The 2015 building code allows two different uses – a restaurant and a shoe store, for example – to share a building without a physical separation between them. But the 2003 fire code does not make such an allowance, creating a discrepancy in the codes.

“It makes planning review more difficult, especially with commercial buildings,” said Todd Beattie, manager of the county’s building department and code enforcement.

The county is also scheduled to adopt conforming amendments to the land-use code that apply relevant changes to access requirements along roadways. A vote was scheduled for Tuesday but was postponed until Aug. 1 because of a mishap that left the county one day short of being in compliance with noticing requirements.

Adam Hirshberg, general manager of Studs Lumber and a board member of the Home Builders Association of Southwest Colorado, said that bringing all the codes onto the same page is less important than some might argue.

“To go from 2003 code to a 2015 code, there’s a lot of folks that are going to have to really make some big changes to make sure that they’re following that code,” he said. “… It would be nice if we could stay a little bit more consistent so that there isn’t such a big jump when we do update.”

Among a litany of word-level changes, several relevant code amendments stand out.

Mobile food trucks will be retroactively subject to the code and must obtain a permit to operate vehicles “equipped with appliances that produce smoke or grease-laden vapors.”

The clause, taken from the 2018 international fire code, was standardized by the Fire Marshal’s Association of Colorado so that vehicles moving between jurisdictions would be subject to consistent regulations.

Appliances in food trucks will need to be equipped with exhaust hoods and automatic fire extinguishing systems.

The new code adds combustible dust-producing operations, such as grain elevators, to the list of buildings requiring permits.

“We’re getting more of that with our beer production,” Hanks said.

The code will also regulate solar energy production facilities, although single-family residence units are exempt. Lithium ion batteries, the kind that would sit on large-scale solar installations such as the one proposed in Hesperus, are not specifically regulated.

“What we learned about lithium ion batteries changes every day,” Hanks said.

A chapter addressing new technologies is designed to apply to that sort of scenario.

Officials say that in coming years, they will work to bring the building and fire codes in Bayfield, Ignacio, Durango and the rest of La Plata County up to pace with one another so that regulations are consistent. They’d also like to work with San Juan County to enact the same set of fire codes because DFRA has jurisdiction in the southern part of San Juan County, north of Purgatory Resort.

The new code can be found on the county’s Building Department webpage.

rschafir@durangoherald.com