February 17, 2020 6:11 AM
Morning Reads for Monday, February 17, 2020
Happy Monday! The Georgia General Assembly is not is session today in observance of Presidents Day. They reconvene tomorrow morning at 10AM.
- Two Cobb Judges stepping down to leave open seats in 2020 elections
- Bartow County School Board Chairman Fred Kittle will not seek re-election this year.
- Mass timber construction technology holds promise for Georgia forestry.
- House panels reject some Kemp cuts in current Georgia budget
- Anti-abortion group flips views on new Georgia senator
- Georgia ships last of 30,000 voting machines for March debut
- My best friend asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday in April. This. I want to do this.
- Vogtle construction site employment hits 9000.
- Forsyth represenatative hoping to pass Tim Tebow law
- Department of Public Health commissioner addresses coronavirus
About Author
Theresa Garcia Robertson
Wife. Mama. Foodie. Political Junkie. Southern Enthusiast. Taco Lover.
2 Comments
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Here is your monday morning reader for this week. Pictures were taken in Greene County, Georgia, in June 1941. The photographer was Jack Delano, working for the Farm Services Administration. Pictures are courtesy of the Library of Congress.
A couple things about the timber technology bill.
The bill wants the DCA to accelerate the building code review process. Currently the building codes update every 6 years after a review of the published Code. The 2018 code just went into effect January 1, of this year. It is not scheduled to be replaced until 2026 with the 2024 code.
The DCA already is looking at tall building engineered timber construction. It can be added by an amendment to the current code cycle. However; the 2021 IBC code section needs to be reviewed and approved with public commentary even with a bill telling the DCA to approve engineered timber tech as allowed by the 2021 IBC. At the earlist it can be added to the code in January 1, of 2022.
Most engineered timber already uses a large amount of Georgia’s wood waste material for it’s laminating process. The majority of wood types used in engineered wood are hardwoods due to it’s horizontal compression strength. Southern Yellow Pine used for vertical compression strength in the building process. In the engineered wood process, SYP is mainly a fill and bonding element. The effect may not be as large as an impact as they think it will.
This is just a ‘make my donners and the very strong forest lobby’ happy bill for something that is going to evenly happen anyway regardless of what they pass.
If the timber industry really wanted to increase the use of SYP and engineered timber in commercial construction, they need to start lobbying the governor to add more folks to the plan review and field inspection division in the state fire marshals office, more statewide training for local building departments in the DCA budget, and increases in fire fighting department funds to pay for the additional ladder trucks and pumper trucks this will required for areas outside Atlanta to maintain their readiness certifications and ISO scores.