Lawmakers to hear proposal to change variance, plan review rules

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A bill going before lawmakers this week would make various changes to rules involving the approval of construction and plumbing plans and variances from building codes.

Among other things, Assembly Bill 641 would give the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services explicit statutory authority to give certain local governments the right to independently approve construction and alteration plans, plumbing plans and variances from building codes. The DSPS is already allowed to do this sort of handing off. But, in some cases at least, the delegation authority is granted not by state statute but by internally adopted rules.

Milwaukee is now the only city in the state that is waived explicitly by statute from having to obtain permission from the DSPS to approve variances from commercial-building code requirements and plans for the construction or alteration of public buildings and places of employment. State law also allows so-called second-class cities to approve these sorts of variances and plans, but only if they first obtain a special certification from the state. But the label “second-class city” applies only to 16 cities with at least 39,000 residents but fewer than 150,000,

Even smaller places can get approval authority. But in their case, the delegation comes from is internal DSPS rules rather than statutory law.

It’s internal rules, for instance, that let places smaller than second-class cities become certified to approve the construction of buildings with less than 50,000 cubic feet and alterations to buildings with less than 100,000 cubic feet.  Still other rules allow the DSPS to appoint local governments as agents with the ability to approve plans for larger buildings and approve certain plumbing plans for public buildings.

In recent years, a big goal of various Republican lawmakers has been to curtail state agencies’ ability to enforce any rule that goes beyond the authority explicitly granted by state statute. Last month saw Attorney General Brad Schimel release an opinion finding that the DSPS had been exceeding its statutory authority by enforcing a rule requiring sprinkler to be installed in apartment buildings with five or more units.

As for the current proposal concerning plan and variance approvals, it would merely ensure state officials’ practices are in line with what the DSPS is specifically allowed to do under state law.

AB 641 is scheduled to go before the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Room 411 South of the state Capitol.

So far, the Wisconsin Economic Development Association is only organization registered in support for the bill. Three organizations, including the Wisconsin Realtors Association are registered as neutral. Follow @erikastrebel