Temple Area Builders Association

We here at TABA would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year!  Check out our photos from our TABA Holiday Luncheon held on December 1st at the Cathedral Oaks Conference Center.

We would like to congratulate all of our 2011 Award Recipients and sincerely thank all those who served on the 2011 Board of Directors and/or chaired a TABA committee or project. 

TABA Team--

As we wrap up 2011, I want to take the opportunity to thank the members of our Association who have made me feel welcome since joining your team earlier this year. Time has flown by, and I have had a great time meeting and learning from each and every one of you. A special thanks goes out to John Howe, who has served as Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee for the last two years. With everyone's combined efforts, we have had a very busy, successful year.

City of Temple adopts 2009 IRC/IBC/IFC

The Temple City Council recently unanimously approved changes to the International Building, Residential, and Fire code for the city. The Government Affairs sub-committee began meeting with the city in the early summer, and provided significant input on minor amendments to the 2009 standards. The amendments we proposed were adopted, which included minor changes to language within certain sections of the code with respect to finished/unfinished living areas, an amendment to allow builders to continue using windows that have a SHGC of .40, and an amendment to the requirement that builders use a minimum of 50% high-efficiency lighting in their houses. These latter standards (windows and light bulbs), as adopted, will stay in place until such time as the State of Texas or Federal Government mandates that jurisdictions require it. Special thanks to Richard Therriault and his team for all of the work they put in changing the city over to the more recent codes.

City of Temple UDC Cleanup items

One of the prevailing items that came out of our yearly planning session was the need to amend the City of Temple UDC to account for unintended changes that occurred when the city combined their subdivision regulations and UDC. In combining the standards, the city's intent was to essentially make the new regulations no more strict than the subdivision or existing UDC. Two minor issues, sidewalk cost sharing and wastewater main sizing came out of our discussions as two areas that did not combine exactly. We believe these two items were simply overlooked, and we are currently working with the city to obtain clarification within code with respect to these items. Thank you to Brian Mabry and his team for working with us in this respect.

City of Temple Stormwater/Post-Construction

The GAC technical subcommittee met with representatives of the city last month to continue discussions regarding the post-construction stormwater ordinance. While we believe we are very close to having a tangible document we can support, we are currently working with the city to evaluate and support future long-term stormwater maintenance needs as part of this ordinance. We have been made aware of what is/isn't working in other jurisdictions, and we hope that the final product is one that all parties can support. Thank you to Michael Newman, Sarah Gardner-Cox, and their entire team for letting us be part of the deliberation process.

On the HOMEPAC Front....

HOMEPAC is currently planning to hold their annual candidates forum the second week of January. Stay tuned for word on the races/candidates that they will be endorsing and interviewing. Filing week for candidates will end December 15th, and we will have a better idea of how things are shaping up.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for your hard work and dedication to our Association this year. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.