|
COMMITTEE MINUTES |
|
NCSBCS FACTORY-BUILT STRUCTURES COMMITTEE Conference Call Meeting Tuesday, November 16, 2004, Noon EST CALL TO ORDER: Chairman, Mark Luttich (NE), called the committee meeting to order at 12:06 p.m. Attendance was taken and noted as follows: MEMBERS PRESENT: APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER 29, 2004, MINUTES: Chairman Luttich asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes of the committee’s September 29, 2004, meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. There were none. A motion was made by Cindy Boaz and seconded by Randy Vogt to approve the minutes as circulated. The motion passed unanimously. OLD BUSINESS: Letter to HUD Regarding HUD-COSAA Meeting & Funding for State Travel: Mr. Luttich reviewed the contents of his October 28, 2004, letter to William Matchneer, Administrator, Office of Manufactured Housing Programs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requesting that HUD adequate fund state participation at the next HUD-COSAA workshop. It was noted that no response had yet been received from HUD to the late October letter and that HUD recently moved the projected meeting date for the HUD-COSAA workshop from March 2005 to some time in September of that year. Committee members expressed concern with the lateness of the meeting given that at the end of 2005 several aspects of the 2000 Amendments to the Manufactured Housing program would be going into affect and a late September 2005 meeting would give states very little time to reach to program changes HUD might announce at that time. Mr. Vogt, as a member of the
Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee, described how he saw
some of those deadlines rolling out but noted that HUD had not
made up its mind about those aspects of their program. The
committee discussed the need for states to weigh-in as soon as
possible with HUD on the above issues.
In a general discussion it was agreed that it made sense to invite Mr. Matchneer to participate in a future Factory-Built Structures Committee conference call to address these and other questions that state modular and manufactured home administrators had. It was further agreed that it would be best to hold another committee meeting on December 9th during which committee members could receive an update on HUD program following the November 29-December 1 meeting of the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee and draft questions for a conference call with Mr. Matchneer sometime in mid-January 2005. The committee agreed to set the dates for both of the above conference calls. December 9 at 3 p.m. (EST) and the conference call meeting with Mr. Matchneer from HUD at noon EST on January 20, 2005. The questions for Mr. Matchneer for the January call will be shared with him in December to provide adequate time to prepare for the session with the states. Input to MHCC on Point Loads in Manufactured Home Installations: Following up on a second action taken at the committee’s September 29th meeting, Mr. Luttich reviewed the draft submission to the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee of a proposal to require point load information on manufactured home installation instructions. The content of the proposed submission was reviewed. Several members offered additional language to the submission regarding the need to include design load information and to make the label permanent. It was further suggested that Mr. Luttich contact the states of Oregon and North Carolina regarding their requirement for such permanent labeling. The Chairman noted that he would do so and then formally submit the proposal to MHCC. Several suggestions were offered to the Chairman as to how he could submit the proposal in a fashion timely enough to possibly have it considered or at least reviewed during the upcoming November 20-December 1 meeting of the MHCC. Update of Committee Survey on State Modular Building Programs: Mr. Wible updated the committee on the responses that had been received thus far to their survey on state modular programs. He added that thus far completed forms had been received from the following 17 states and that the deadline for state responses had been extended to November 30th to allow more states the opportunity to provide data. The 17 states completing the survey include: CO, FL, IL, ME, MD, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, ND, NV, NJ, PA, RI, VA, & WI Mr. Wible noted that on the December 9 conference call meeting an updated summary of the survey results would be shared with the committee. (NOTE: IF YOUR STATE HAS NOT COMPLETED A SURVEY FORM, PLEASE CONTACT CAROLYN FITCH AT cfitch@ncsbcs.org FOR A FORM – DEADLINE NOW NOVEMBER 30, 2004). Status of Committee/NCSBCS Response to HUD January 2004 Call for Comments on HUD Programs that Overlap/Interfere with State/Local Laws and Affordable Housing –HUD Alternative Construction Letters for Manufactured Homes: It was noted that during the 37th Annual Conference, Mr. Bryant Applegate from HUD America’s Affordable Homes Initiative had said that he anticipated HUD release of their comments to the Federal Register notice sometime prior to the end of Calendar 2004. Mr. Wible noted that he would check again with Mr. Applegate as to when that notice might appear. The committee and NCSBCS had especially commented on the HUD Manufactured Housing Alternative Construction Letters and the muddying of the waters as to what is a HUD-code manufactured home, what is a state-regulated modular home, or a state- or local-regulated site-built home. Several members described deaths that had occurred in their states because of the way Alternate Construction Letters were handled and the restrictions that HUD was placing on state and local governments to oversee proper onsite completion of these homes. It was noted that committee members were extremely concerned about this problem and the lack thus far of a response from HUD as to how to properly address these problems. Members will submit to the NCSBCS Executive Director any examples that they have of serious injuries or deaths that have occurred from such regulatory gaps. He will forward them to HUD with the committee’s request for HUD action to end these problems. The committee also discussed the need to come up with ways of helping states, consumers, bankers, and code enforcement personnel determine exactly what kind of home was in front of them: a HUD-regulated manufactured home, a state-regulated modular home, or a site-built home (regulated by either the state or by the locality in which it was built). Mr. Bernia noted that he had a simple guide sheet that he used in Colorado. Mr. Wible requested a copy of the sheet and asked other committee members to send them any other brochures or guide materials that they use. It was agreed that a request would go out to all state manufactured and/or modular housing programs requesting any such brochures or materials they may have be sent to NCSBCS and then on their December 9th conference call the committee would decide if a generic brochure or handout should be developed by NCSBCS for states to use. Modular Construction Programs: In addition to getting back more completed state modular building program survey responses, Mr. Wible provided an update on the work being done by the Industrialized Buildings Commission – an Interstate Compact. He noted that the Commission was holding two training sessions for industry and third parties on their program. One session is being held in South Bend, Indiana, November 19, and the other is being held in Irving, Texas, on December 3. Mr. Whit Waller requested that information be sent to him regarding the latter program. Additional information on the Industrialized Buildings Commission is available on their website www.interstateibc.com. NEW BUSINESS: Mr. Luttich and Mr. Wible noted that several committee work items for 2004-2005 had already been discussed during the day’s call: the future conference call meeting with HUD officials (January 20, 2005), follow-up on state concerns over HUD Alternate Construction Letters, HUD funding of state participants at the next HUD-COSAA meeting, the changes to manufactured home installation requirements to include point load information, and a review of feedback from the State Modular Programs Survey. It was agreed that these and other items would be reviewed during the December 9 conference call meeting and the work agenda for 2005 set at that time. DATE AND LOCATION OF NEXT MEETING: There being no further business to come before the Factory-Built Structures Committee, at 1:10 p.m. Mr. Luttich thanked everyone on the call and adjourned the meeting. The next meeting of the committee will be held via conference call on Thursday, December 9, 2004, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Respectfully submitted, Robert Wible, Executive Director, NCSBCS Minutes of September 29, 2004 Meeting
|