The Ames City Council will consider new codes for building within city limits and vote to approve amendments to next year’s budget at its meeting Tuesday night.

City staff has recommended the council adopt updated international codes regulating building construction in place of current, regionally based codes.

“The new rules are good for builders,” said Russ Scott, deputy fire chief and acting building official for the city. “[If the new codes are passed], large builders from out of state will have one set of rules to follow, which keeps costs down and helps them make competitive bids on projects.”

Business and residential builders in Ames presently must adhere to two codes, the Uniform Building Code and Uniform Fire Code, Scott said.

The Uniform Codes were one of three sets of codes used across the United States until 2000, when the differing codes were merged into a single set — the International Building Code, International Residential Code and International Fire Code, Scott said.

For the past several years, city staff has worked with builders groups, including the Home Builders Association and American Institute of Architects, to bring the new codes to Ames, he said.

The council will decide Tuesday whether to adopt the latest edition of these codes, released in 2003, and community-specific amendments for Ames.

“It sounds like the right thing to do,” said councilman Matthew Goodman. “The local codes are not supposed to be more restrictive than state code. The International Code will make sure ours are not.”

If the council approves the codes and amendments, City Attorney John Klaus will create an ordinance adopting the codes, Scott said. If the council approves this ordinance, the codes will become city law.

Part of the new international codes are regulations on sprinkler systems in communal housing buildings, such as apartments and greek houses, Scott said. While these particular codes wouldn’t require sprinkler installation in existing buildings, it will require them in new constructions.

If the council chooses to adopt the new codes, it must also decide whether to allow developers a six-month phase-in time for sprinkler installation, a step recommended by city staff.

“Some developers have purchased ground that initially was not required to [have sprinklers],” Scott said. “The phase-in period will help to avoid extra costs to those builders.”

Requiring existing greek houses to be equipped with sprinklers is an issue the city intends to address, Scott said, but there is no time-frame yet for that requirement.

Also on the docket is a vote to approve amendments to the city’s 2004-05 fiscal year budget and 2004-09 Capital Improvements Plan.

If the amendments are approved, the budget will go through a final public hearing at the City Council meeting March 2 and then be submitted to the state for certification before March 15, Tedesco said.

“The budget is near the end of a marathon process,” he said.

The 2004-05 fiscal year budget wrap-up meeting will begin at 5:15 p.m., Tuesday in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 515 Clark St. The regular council meeting will follow the budget discussion.