“We talked about all of the things we’ve done [in Moore],” Lewis said. “I was on a panel with another mayor and an administrator from the city of New York. I guess it was productive — I’m still translating it all.”
Lewis said adopting new tornado resistant building codes in Moore made the city more competitive for disaster relief funds.
The Moore City Council made history on March 17, 2014, with the adoption of 11 recommendations by structural engineering experts for residential building codes. These code changes made new homes in Moore more likely to survive a tornado without unduly raising construction costs. The code went into effect on April 17, 2014.
“I still want to get it passed where we get it mandatory that we require a storm shelter in all buildings,” Lewis said.
As part of the conference this week, the Obama Administration highlighted federal and private sector efforts aimed at advancing the principles of resilience in building codes and standards and in building design.
President Obama declared May National Building Safety Month to reaffirm the administration’s commitment to building safety standards.
Among the actions taken this week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it will review, through the department’s executive-level Climate Council, existing building construction requirements with the goal of aligning program requirements with the most recent model building codes and standards for resilient construction.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it will explore incentivizing the adoption and enforcement of building codes at the state and local level through a disaster deductible requirement for its Public Assistance Program, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in coordination with FEMA, said it is developing tornado hazard maps, which will “underpin a new performance-based standard for design of buildings and other structures to better resist tornadoes. These tornado maps and standard will help design professionals ensure that future buildings are better equipped to withstand the impacts of high winds and debris.”
“We talked about climate change — we all need these building codes,” Lewis said. “And now we also have earthquakes. The [Oklahoma] state legislature took the ability of Moore to ban drilling. We’ve always banned drilling.”
Lewis said he didn’t get to meet with the president this week but has enjoyed his visit to the nation’s capital.
©2016 The Norman Transcript (Norman, Okla.). Visit The Norman Transcript (Norman, Okla.) at www.normantranscript.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
