State Building Code
Technical Review Board
The State Building Code Technical Review Board (SBCTRB) consists of 14 citizens appointed by the Governor to ensure Virginia’s building code is administered fairly and well-understood by the citizens of Virginia.
The organizations represented by the board members are the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects, Virginia Society of Professional Engineers, the Home Builders Association of Virginia, the Virginia Branch of the Associated General Contractors of America, Virginia Building and Code Officials Association, State Fire Chiefs Association of Virginia, Virginia chapters of the National Apartment Association, and the Virginia Association of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors.
The SBCTRB’s primary purpose is to hear appeals from enforcement actions under the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, the Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code, the Virginia Industrialized Building Safety Regulations, the Virginia Manufactured Home Safety Regulations and the Virginia Certification Standards.
Applicants for appeals are generally those persons or entities regulated under the building and fire codes and who disagree with an enforcement action. The codes require the filing of an appeal within a certain time period and generally an appeal must first be made to a local government appeals board and then to the SBCTRB if relief is not granted by the local board.
The parties in appeals cases are typically building owners and tenants, building and trade contractors and subcontractors, design professionals and building and fire code enforcement personnel. The interpretation function is available to building and fire officials. Correspondence and oversight of functions of the review board is the responsibility of Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) staff.
Both the building and fire codes contain provisions advising of the right to appeal and directing aggrieved parties to the appropriate appeals board. Appeal applications are below.
Questions about this process should be directed to: alan.mcmahan@dhcd.virginia.gov
A secondary function of the SBCTRB is to interpret the provisions of the building and fire codes and make recommendations for future changes to those codes to the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development.
Members of the SBCTRB are:
J. Robert Allen, Chairman
Virginia Building and
Code Officials Association
Matthew Arnold
Virginia Society of American Institute of Architects
Joanne D. Monday
Virginia Building
Owners and
Manager Association
R. Schaefer Oglesby, Vice Chairman
National Apartment
Association
James N. Lowe
Virginia Association
of
Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors |
John H. Epperson
Virginia Society of
Professional Engineers
Joseph A. Kessler, III
Associated General Contractors of Virginia
James R. Dawson
Virginia Fire Chiefs Association
John A. Knepper, Jr.
Electrical Contractor
Patricia S. O’Bannon
Commonwealth at large
J. Daniel Crigler
Virginia Association
of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors and
the Virginia Chapters of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America
W. Keith Brower, Jr.
Commonwealth at large
Eric Mays
Virginia Building & Code Officials Association
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SBCTRB Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. How long does it take to process a typical appeal to the Review Board?
A. Two to three months.
Q. Do I need an attorney to handle the appeal?
A. Depending on whether there are any specific legal issues, it may be advisable to consult with an attorney. As a general rule, less than 50 percent of the parties in appeals are represented by attorneys.
Q. Do the board members have terms?
A. No, they serve at the pleasure of the Governor.
Q. What if I disagree with a decision of the Review Board in an appeal?
A. A statement of further right of appeal is included on all final orders of the board.
Q. Can staff assist in resolving an appeal situation?
A. Not usually; once an appeal is filed or has been heard by the local appeals board, the parties would have to consent to any resolution of the appeal.
Q. Are the decisions of the Review Board on file?
A. Yes, the decisions are kept in the files of the Office of the Review Board in chronological order. Review Board staff can assist in searching past cases by subject matter or issues.
Q. Are the interpretations issued by the Review Board on file?
A. The interpretations are published in a booklet available online. Any interpretations issued after the updating of the booklet are published in the Code Connections newsletter, also available online.
Forms
Interpretations
The following interpretations were issued subsequent to the publishing of the 2006 Interpretations Booklet
Recent Review Board Decisions
“Note: Any decisions that have been further appealed to the courts are not reported pending the results of the court action.”
Publications
Minutes
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