By FREDA R. SAVANA – Bucks County Courier Times

In a lawsuit filed in Bucks County court, attorneys for Toll Brothers Inc. say Buckingham is wrongly applying outdated township building codes to its projects and should sue the state code.

Toll attorney Stephen Harris said grandfathering in the local code is adding some $7,000 to $8,000 to the price of each home.

Specifically, a provision in the township building code requires the use of No. 2 grade lumber and the installation of automatic fire suppression systems in all new residential construction. That requirement, Toll contends, is inconsistent with the Uniform Construction Code instituted by the state.

Efforts by the newspaper to reach Buckingham officials for comment were unsuccessful. The township has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit, which was filed May 7.

In 1999, Buckingham, like municipalities across the state, lost its authority to regulate construction and construction materials by local ordinance. Instead, Pennsylvania gave the state Department of Labor and Industry the job of adopting a uniform building code intended to standardize construction codes.

While Buckingham switched to the new code, it made certain modifications that, Harris said, conflicted with the state’s provisions.

Furthermore, the lawsuit states, the township didn’t enforce the old provisions, including the lumber or sprinkler requirements for approximately 375 residences built by Toll Brothers in Buckingham until 2008, when a new code official took over.

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