If you’ve been meaning to present your blueprints for construction approval in Marin County and expect to slide in under the old regulations, you’d better get a move on.  Changes are the order of the day for California’s building codes, and new regulations will be in effect as of January 1, 2008.

Novato has stopped taking applications, but it is business as usual in San Rafael until 5 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, and the county offices will be opened late on New Year’s Eve to accommodate applicants trying to slide in under the wire.  After that, new construction and remodels will be required to meet more stringent requirements, designed with safety in mind.  The biggest changes embrace stricter requirements for fire sprinklers, seismic-safety standards, on the rise and run of stairways, and new codes for building on hillside and wildland areas where wildfires are a threat.

If you have recently purchased land in Marin (or are looking for property) and are still in the planning stage, be prepared for the plan review process to take longer that usual as the building department comes up to speed with the new codes.  Being certain that your blueprints have been drawn up with the new codes in mind, so valuable time won’t be wasted in “do overs”.