Mattapoisett Director of Inspectional Services Andy Bobola was recently honored with an invitation to work on revisions to the Massachusetts State Building Code; specifically, those sections focused on structures in flood plains. Bobola was the only building inspector asked to participate on the code revision panel headed up by Michael Guigli, technical director for the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards.
“We are very excited,” said Town Administrator Mike Gagne of Bobola’s appointment. “He’ll be able to bring new insights to the table with his knowledge and practicality.”
“It’s nice when your efforts over the years are recognized,” said Bobola. He has been Mattapoisett’s building inspector since 1987.
For the next two months Bobola, along with Rick Charon, will be developing building code language that will be applied to flood plain chapters.
Charon, an engineer and Rochester resident, has been Bobola’s go-to person over the years when faced with questions beyond his own scope of expertise.
“Rick and I, along with a couple of architects, have worked closely together for years helping each other,” said Bobola.
The task force Guigli put together will eventually find their work absorbed into the ICC, or International Code Council, another group that seeks uniformity. The ICC website states that its function is to “[provide] technical, educational, and administrative support to governmental departments and agencies engaged in building codes administration and enforcement.”
Another topic that Bobola believes is important and related to issues around buildings in flood zones is comprehension of the ’50 percent rule.’
“We don’t want to see residents spending vast sums of money to renovate a home that might get destroyed by a storm,” said Bobola. He explained that the 50t rule limits what a property owner may spend (up to 50 percent of the assessed value) on an existing structure in a flood zone. That benchmark attempts to stop excessive construction on buildings that do not meet flood zone building requirements imposed on new structures, such as pillars and fortified windows.
To shed further understanding on this point, Bobola has begun partnering with local real estate agencies to develop free training seminars to extend flood zone building code knowledge to professionals working in this field.
“When I started in 1987, I had one code book of about 260 pages that I had to enforce,” Bobola said. “…Today, I have 14 different code books, about 10,000 pages that I have to use on a day-to-day basis.”
Bobola said his goal is to bring clarity and ease to text that can oftentimes be tough to comprehend and enforce.
“A lot of things I hope I never have to use,” he said. “But if we do, Mattapoisett will be okay.”
By Marilou Newell
