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By Thomas Peipert

The Associated Press

DENVER 鈥� Some homeowners recovering from the most destructive wildfire in Colorado鈥檚 history say they could end up paying tens of thousands of dollars more to rebuild because of environmentally sustainable construction standards approved shortly before the blaze.

Now they want the Louisville City Council to waive the more-stringent codes 鈥� adopted in October 2021 to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change 鈥� for residents whose homes were destroyed in the Dec. 30 wildfire.

The blaze, driven by winds topping 100 mph, ripped through the area and destroyed 1,084 homes, including 550 in Louisville. The damage totaled more than half a billion dollars.

A group of more than 100 residents opposed to the codes rallied outside Louisville City Hall on Sunday, and the City Council could discuss the situation soon.

Rex and Barba Hickman, whose four-bedroom, three-bathroom home was reduced to ash and rubble, said that while the new building codes are well-intentioned, homeowners affected by the fire should be exempt. The city should also consider waiving permitting costs, they said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a confluence of challenges just exacerbated by the city,鈥� said Rex Hickman, a retired financial adviser who bought the 3,200-square-foot home with Barba in 1999 for $298,000.

Louisville Mayor Ashley Stolzmann, who spearheaded the effort to update the building codes, said she thinks the change is 鈥渇antastic,鈥� but a 鈥渨hole range of options is on the table,鈥� including possible incentives and rebates to reduce reconstruction costs.

鈥淚 understand that in this circumstance, it鈥檚 putting a lot of pressure on families,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut the biggest sources of carbon emission in our state are from buildings and from transportation, and we are in a climate crisis.鈥�

A consultant hired by the city calculated the additional cost of reconstruction under the new standards would be a minimum of about $20,000 for a 2,820-square-foot home 鈥� the average size of those lost in the blaze.

Yet the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver last week emailed a letter to several groups 鈥� including fire victims, insurers, real estate agents and builders 鈥� saying the additional cost under the new codes would be at least $77,000 for a 2,200-square-foot home.

Rex Hickman said he has spoken with several builders who estimated it would cost up to $100,000 more to rebuild his home 鈥� at a total price tag of just over $1 million 鈥� partly because of a severe labor shortage, increased costs of materials and supply chain shortages brought on by the pandemic. The couple鈥檚 insurance company, he said, is expected to cover only $700,000.

Stolzmann stood by the consultant鈥檚 study, saying it included a detailed breakdown of the cost assumptions from local builders.

鈥淓ach other estimate I have seen is a general ballpark and has not been supported by any detail,鈥� said Stolzmann, who invited residents who receive extravagantly high bids to forward them to her office for review.

The updated rules, known as the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code, require newly constructed homes to have electric vehicle charging infrastructure, better energy efficiency, and all-electric systems and appliances or natural gas ones able to be easily upgraded to electric.

Residential construction also will have to meet a net-zero carbon emission standard, and homeowners must buy offsetting credits from community solar gardens if they can鈥檛 meet that goal.

Jurisdictions across the country have adopted the new codes, which are being considered by several western U.S. states and cities, said Ryan Colker, vice president of innovation at the International Code Council, which writes the rules.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the new codes provide a 51 percent reduction in energy use compared to the predominant energy codes of the early 1990s, when most of the homes destroyed in the fire were built.

But Rex Hickman described the code as being 鈥渁dopted into a virtual vacuum鈥� by city leaders who thought it would apply only to the relatively small number of new homes to be built in Louisville, not knowing that hundreds of existing ones would need to soon be replaced.

The Hickmans, who would have to draw from retirement funds to rebuild or consider leaving the area, pointed out that the neighboring town of Superior, where 378 homes were destroyed, has exempted its residents from stricter building codes.

Superior鈥檚 town board unanimously adopted the 2021 building codes at a meeting Monday night but allowed those who lost homes in the fire to opt out if they rebuild, following the building code in place at the time of the fire instead, Mayor Clint Folsom said.

The board also backed a proposal to give fire victims a rebate on the town鈥檚 sales tax on their building materials and part of their building permit fee, Folsom said.

鈥淲e want to remove as much uncertainty and potential cost from the rebuild process,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e realize what a stressful situation people are under with the potential for the underinsurance gap that a lot of people are facing, not having enough money to rebuild. And if this can help them bridge that gap, we want to do so.鈥�

Marci Sannes, whose Louisville home was destroyed, said she hopes the city follows Superior鈥檚 lead for that very reason.

鈥淚 keep reading these things online about how it would be such a missed opportunity for the city if we rebuilt the old way and didn鈥檛 take this opportunity to be more green. And it鈥檚 so frustrating to me because it鈥檚 not an opportunity; it鈥檚 just people trying to go home,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 a green community if all of our families move away.鈥�

Sannes, who bought her home 20 years ago for about $360,000, said she expects to pay at least $75,000 extra to rebuild under the new standards at a total cost of about $1 million. Her insurance company, she said, will pay only about $600,000 of that, leaving her with the choice of selling the charred lot, building a smaller home or building back to the same size and ballooning her debt.

鈥淔or (the City Council) to keep at it now, seeing the impact on people, it just shocks me that we鈥檙e having the conversation about it,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat they didn鈥檛 instantly say, 鈥極ur priority is having our families in Louisville rebuild and come back home.鈥欌��