May 10, 2012
Massachusetts Building Code Trumps Local Ordinances
The Supreme Judicial Court held last week that a town or municipality in the Commonwealth cannot enforce by local ordinance a requirement that is more restrictive than the State Building Code. St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Western Mass., Inc. v. Fire Dept of Springfield, slip op. SJC-10973 (May 4, 2012).
The State Building Code provides that buildings must have any one of four types of “fire protective signaling systems and automatic fire detection systems.” The City of Springfield enacted an ordinance that only allowed the use of the fourth option permitted by the Code. The St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, located in Springfield, installed one of the four systems permitted by the Code, but not the one permitted by the Springfield ordinance. The City issued a violation notice to the Cathedral fining it $100 per day, and the Cathedral eventually filed a lawsuit challenging the local ordinance.
The Superior Court agreed with the Cathedral, ruling that the ordinance was unenforceable. Upon the City’s appeal, the case was transferred to the Supreme Judicial Court. The Court found that the local ordinance violated the Home Rule Amendment (M.G.L. c. 43B § 13), which in essence provides that cities and towns are permitted to adopt ordinances which are not inconsistent with the Constitution or laws enacted by the Legislature.
The Court concluded that the Legislature’s clear intent in adopting the State Building Code was to ensure “uniform standards and requirements for construction and construction materials.” The Court went on to find that the City’s ordinance was inconsistent with the Legislative intent behind the State Building Code and, therefore, invalid under the Home Rule Amendment. The Court stated, “If all municipalities in the Commonwealth were allowed to enact similarly restrictive ordinances and bylaws, a patchwork of building regulations would ensue.” This ruling has the potential to help contractors that are often frustrated by the variations in code requirements from municipality to municipality.
Should you have any questions with regard to the above, please contact your attorney or an attorney in our Construction practice group.
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