Loveland council adopts 2024 building codes, approves low-energy and carbon code

The Loveland City Council voted Tuesday to approve a broad update to the city’s building codes, including the 2024 Colorado Model Low Energy and Carbon Code. The action updated Title 15 to adopt the 2024 International Code Council codes with local amendments as part of the city’s three-year cycle, while tabling two separate energy-related ordinances in favor of the combined state low-energy and carbon code. Ordinance 6832, adopting the Colorado Model Low Energy and Carbon Code, passed 6-3.

City staff said the low-energy and carbon code consolidates two measures the council was asked to table: the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code and the Colorado Model Electric and Solar Ready Code. Theresa Campbell, Loveland’s chief building official, told council the combined state code folds those provisions into one code book, which is why staff recommended tabling Ordinances 6813 and 6816 and replacing them with Ordinance 6832.

Campbell said staff’s recommended package also included the radon appendix, the accessory dwelling unit appendix and administrative changes that would allow property owners to act as their own general contractors for accessory dwelling units. She said staff recognized the package would bring upfront costs, particularly with the low-energy and carbon code, but argued it would provide greater efficiency and long-term savings for homeowners.

The debate centered on construction costs, the complexity of new requirements and whether the city should move ahead before builders had more time to review the changes. At the start of the discussion, Campbell said she had received an email that afternoon from Hartford Homes asking the city not to adopt the 2024 codes yet because the company needed more time to understand the impacts.

The ordinances, listed under Item 7.4, had all passed first reading May 5. The agenda packet said the city was seeking to stay current with state requirements and neighboring jurisdictions while updating local rules on issues including radon mitigation and energy-related standards such as EV- and solar-ready provisions.

Second-reading votes on the package were mostly split but favorable, with most individual ordinances passing by 8-1 or 7-2 margins. The most divisive votes were on the energy-code pieces: the motions to table Ordinances 6813 and 6816 passed 6-3, and Ordinance 6832 passed 6-3.