Opinion ID: 2607865
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: limited authority

Text: The authority given to local governing bodies is confined to limiting the application of a rule or regulation or some portion of the State Building Code Act. The removal of a given class of structures from the application of the entire Code is not permissible. Additionally, modification in application of the Code is justified only where local conditions logically and reasonably warrant. An entire abrogation of the State Building Code Act, as occurred here, is in conflict with the directive of RCW 19.27.060(1) that, in general, the State Building Code Act is to supersede all other codes containing less than the minimum performance standards and objectives of the component uniform codes. In addition, such action is also contrary to so much of RCW 19.27.040, as permits only such local amendments as shall be not less than the minimum performance standards and objectives enumerated in RCW 19.27.020, ... The San Juan County Code excludes a class of buildings  residences built by their owners  from all of those portions of the State Building Code Act which relate to standards of building construction. Under the County's scheme, any person is free to build a home without reference to any standard of construction whatsoever and, without inspection, to occupy it indefinitely and, after a 5-year period, even to convey it to others. The authority granted in the State Building Code Act for counties to limit the application of a rule, regulation or portion of the Building Code to specified classes of buildings must be read in light of the entire State Building Code Act, and the evident primary intent of the Code was to provide uniform minimum statewide standards of health and safety in the construction of buildings. Even if RCW 19.27.060(3) is read in isolation, the exemption of a class of family residences from the entire building codes is more than a limitation of the application of any rule or regulation or portion of the state building code to include or exclude specified classes or types of buildings or structures ... (Italics mine.) To remove a given class of buildings or structures from the entire operation of the State Building Code Act effectively undermines the foregoing statutory objectives. Yet where statutory language is susceptible of two constructions, one of which will carry out and the other defeat the manifest object of the statute, the former construction should be adopted. Roza Irrig. Dist. v. State, 80 Wn.2d 633, 497 P.2d 166 (1972). For this reason, I would hold that the authority granted local governments under RCW 19.27.060(3) does not go so far as to permit the exemption of a class of buildings or structures from the entire State Building Code Act. Carried to its extreme, such interpretation would allow removal of all classes of structures within a given local jurisdiction from Building Code requirements.