.NTk.NTk

The Building lnspectb'1:i(Department • J The Bui Id i ng 1nspe cti ;/o epartm ent i-s-mv v oo~r~ne;;'(hd wriittlT-rn!rnm;-rem Pte~ m<i~ ~ ~ec1 e flT \:;;,.; r ~m:i:~ sas;~· administers and enforces the Zoning •• Ordina_ncer th e Housing and Slum Clearance Coder the Housing Demolition Ordinancer i"he Georgia Safety Fire Law and the Elevator Ordinance. Its responsibilities generally regulate the private use of private prope rty. The manner in which the department does its job and works with other agencies both in and out of the City government will be reflected in the quality of tota I community deve loprre nt . / taffingr organie a t ion_, and records must be so developed as to have flexibi Iity r comprehenz ivenessr and sensitivi ty to the needs and requirements of area act ion. ~ e Bui ding lnspect~ jDepartment hcis been the subject of extensive review and reorganization to better prepare it for th eS: role. Implementation of the reorganization is now in the final stage . <fhis pt e s e ~ t !'?'ft.. syste It wou Id be inappropriate to attempt to evaluate performance rf--er-menG.e.tmaQSk!rem:e A' sh:oo:td b d ev-=e bo~ecl •

, (?..(' 11

, \.11 2.... / -:, [ I V 1J In 1964 Public Administration- Service prepared a survey report relating to the consolidat ion of inspect ion.- ~erv ic e.:. in the City of Atlanta. This report reviewed and identified all inspectional func ti ons ._.., carr ied out among several departme nts with;ithe City government. The major attention of the report was focused on the Department of Building Inspections. The find ings of the report led to recommendat ions for an expanded department of Building Inspe ctions to include plumbing inspection (from the Construction Departme nt) , e lectrical inspection (from the Department of Electricity) and housing code inspection (from the Departmen t of Urban Renewal). The City adopted the full re port.· The De p artme nts of El e c trici ty and Urban Renewal were abolished when the ir few remaining responsibi I ities we re transferred to other departments a nd age ncies. of these re commendat ions. No one lost his job or was reduced in salary du e to the imp leme ntat io n ·I �The Building Inspection Department Page 2 Consolidation began in July of 1964. in-1;,he beginni~ little more could be accomplished than to effect a legal change. The various officer s were spread .from the third floor of City Hall thirteenth floor. t; the In late summer 1965, one year later,major office realignments were made at City Hall w!)jcb resulted Ln the Building lnspecti'on D~partment occupying all of the eighth and ninth floors. ~ C1[tj1c.k ~ ~ ~ '---- 19~(, ~- · · - · · . Priysical provisions were made for a central records an:! statistical unit and the central permits desk·. Staffing for the Records Bureau was provided by cleri ca I personnel formerly assigned fo each of the - .,...

.:...~--------------r'..:·.- --------..,-___ ~ i:n~sp~e: c: t~i:o ~n~d: i:v~is~i~o:n:s:. . i \ from the proposed plan in t;,vo minor ways. First there is The present organization dif'{ers no separate zoning . ,_.,-/ -.,u-- 11 - ' ': : ' ( \ I ~ning enforcement is carried out by the B~i !ding Code Enforcement - ~ . . Division. The build_ing inspectors c rry on this dual functi >, u . ~ • IM,s,.Fep'!!ed.'tb gt zgping enforcement • One aspect o the zoning enforcement and control is in the This would be another important step in con oli ating related functions concerning building construction. Another area of responsibility that could proP. r}y be assigned to the Building Inspection Department would be the functions now carried out by epartment of City Hall. The Building De partment and prepares plans and supervises all a ditions an alterations to the City Hall and all oth er City build ings. This new division, to be ail e d a Division of Ci ty Buildings, would be re sponsible for the custod ia l duties at C ity Hall, sup rvising alteration ball City buildings, and tQ\ provide technical · information and assistanc e toot er City de partme nts in the operation and maintenance of their bu i ldings. An O rgani zation Cha rt ind ic ting the prese nt o rganiz tion and incl uding the suggested addi t ion of the Division of City Buildings ·s presented in Chart ---....,,.... �I i:>,) The Building lnspecto~ Department Page 3 Staffing. The Department has a technical staff of 72 and a clerical staff of 16. The technical staff includes the depart~ent head (Building Official), an assistant Building Official, two architect engineers, ten plumbing inspectors, 10 electrical inspectors, 2 elevator inspectors, 9 heating . and vent ilating ins,)ectors and engineers, 16 building inspectors and 15 persons engaged in Housing Code enforcement. Six technicians are either registered engineers or architects. Most of the specialized inspectors are I icenseJ in their trades, Dual Inspections . There is a decided trend throughou·t the county towards the use of dual inspectors. By combining inspectional duties one person inspects two or more inspectional fields providing competent inspection in an economical manner. The most common dual inspections are building and zoning, plumbing and heating, and building and housing. The City of Atlanta has only one type of dual inspection - building and zoning. Efforts to extend combined inspections usually meet strong resistance from craft unions. The use of qua! inspections might necessarily have to be limited to residential buildings. This will involve the greatest volume of work, but also the most routine from the standpoint of technical difficulty. An expanded program of dual inspections requires a well developed in-training program, co?perat ion and understanding of the craft unions, and support from the City administration. Atlanta could probably extend its dual irspections to include Housing Code inspedions to al I its inspectional specialities •. Every inspector, then, wru Id be ,. responsible to note and report to the Housing Code Division any violations observed. Follow-up inspect ions regarding housing code violation would. remain the responsibili ty of the Housing Division. This modificat ion would go far in expanding the ability of the City to identify homes that are deve lop ing features that lead to blight. Work Program lnspe ctiona l services are prov ided to insure the hea lth, safety and genera l welfare of the communi ty. Bu i ld ing inspections insure that structures will be buil t , repaired and altered in accordance with accepted stand~rds. Pl umbing inspections insure that water a nd sewer facil iti~ are installed in a manner that will protect the occupants hea lth. Heating and Ve ntilating inspections assure that heating un its are installed proper~y and includes provisions for smoke a~atement in ord~r to reduce �~ - - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - ---·-·· . I Page 4 The Building lnspectb"t Department air pollution. Electrical Inspections insure that wiring installations will reduce fire hazards. Housing inspections differ from the above in that the housing code is concerned with buildings that were built under former regulations (usually these required lower standards of safety and sanitation). It is the general purpose of housing inspection to upgrade the standing of living in existing housing. Zoning ordinance enforcement activities support the r~gulation~of land use, control of height and bulk of buildings, establish area requirements for yards and other open spaces. The volume of work undertaken by the department may be measured by the value and number of building permits issued in the past 10 yearsf t Year 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 . Value of Building (mill ions of Dollars) 76 59 59 108 114 91 96 117 109 150 Number of Permits 10,613 9,682 7,791 8,327 8,728 8,311 10,158 9.357 9,168 9,142 JI({,$ Building Codes The City of Atlanta provides through these various codes a high standard of . /L_C.,~:,,{ _.., construction. The National Building Code is basically use d for building. In 1965 a ..r,ewretl Code National ElectricaVwil I be issued which will be adopted by the City" Currently the City is using the existing National Electrical Code with some local amendments. The City is a leader in developing a Heati ng Code . This code has receove d national acclaim and has been widely adopted by other c ities. The Plumbing and the Housing codes are not based.after any mode l code, but do incorporate high standards. G e nerally, the codes provide for e ight inspections to be made during actual cons 1ruction. A final inspection is made upon completion of all work to assure conformance to land use, type of building, area of lot _a nd other requi rements of the zoning and building ordinances a nd codes. A certificate of occupancy is issued at that time. �The Building Inspection Dep_cn:.tm.e.nt Page 5 Budget and Revue. The department collects in fees enough funds to cover al I the expenses of operation. A recent survey of municipal building inspection practices indicated that 72 per cent of 101 cities over 100~000 population receive 75 per cent or more of their operating budget. from .' fees. Thirty-two per cent of these cities receive 100 % or more of their operating budget from fees. Public Conveniencs-. The consolidation of inspectional service and a central building permits desk serves as a public conveniencee A contractor or individual can get all building permits at one location. He must, however, still go to several other locations within City Hall for other basic information and permits. Water permits, water meters and location of water facilities a re obtained from 't he Water Department; Sewer permits, Street Opening permits, sewer assessments, curbcut permits and location of sewer foci! ities are obtained from the Construct ion Department . Applications for rezoning and street numbers are provided at the Pl ::mning Department. Copies of the Zoning Code a re purchased from the City Clerk as are Iicenses to engage in the construction Business. Complete consolidation of these information and permit issuing functions requires .considerabl e study and would effect changes that cr:,ss over departmental lines. De rtments have a tende {;, to ts. None prese nt ly exists. �.• [j, .I/L0/ 11/(, j l l/S P /3·c. T,1 c,vs t> r:: ? /) 1'<. r i1 i,,v T 1- -- --- - - - - - - -- - - ---. OFF 1 C111L. a·~-iLj)~;cc--· ·i-1-A/~; -·1 2 1..rJ ,N( 6 t Gc"i l~ l C,,,.~ l._ . D,v, s , .:.,v D,v ,s. , orv · j ,'}1,":l 1-=- t, Lt.. i: -:-- , j V ,-.J i I i j iL _ _ _ _ _ _ __, p1_v ·1"'11~ 1,v (:, D:v1·;. , ,;;,V ,~ ~-DS -:-) ~ ~ ~ i\ \.I l ) f.Jt) CG r.,1 -,("{ ,'\L i'",;'i~, •11 r5 ___ f,~1.. '1 jl-,c~ i . . .:rv- . ,~ cv , ,~ ...J

, IV l $ 4..

.

I ~- ----·-----· , _ ·~ (\J .'> ,J . �