AUGUSTA – A bill originally intended to exempt single-family and two-unit homes from a statewide building code set to take effect Jan. 1, 2010 was amended by the sponsor, Rep. Jarrod Crockett, R-Bethel, during a public hearing Tuesday.

Crockett’s amendment would exempt towns with populations below 5,000 from complying with the code.

“Right now is a bad time for small towns; we’re just trying to stay the code,” he said before the Legislature’s Business, Research and Economic Development Committee. “It doesn’t mean that it won’t come around and be applied and it doesn’t adversely affect anybody. We are leaving the door open to future implementation once it’s more developed.”

Maine is one of two states that has not established a statewide building code. Instead, each municipality has its own set of standards for safety, energy-efficiency and quality for residential and commercial buildings, creating a patchwork throughout the state.

Last year, the Legislature passed a law to create a statewide code based on the International Energy Conservation Code, a standard widely used in other states. According to the law, towns with fewer than 2,000 residents are exempt and towns of any size that have never had a building code are not required to adopt it until 2012.

Crockett said he was concerned about the costs the code would incur on small communities.

Several groups opposed his proposal, including the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Maine, the Maine Fire Chiefs Association and the Maine State Planning Office.

“Yes, towns do need time and we have given them that,” said Sue Inches of the Maine State Planning Office. “We heard those concerns and I think we have given them time.”

Inches said towns with more than 2,000 residents are already required to employ code officers, even though some don’t have any codes to enforce, so there would be no added burden on communities of that size.

The bill could also put Maine at risk for losing out on some funds available from the federal economic stimulus package, Inches said.

“This is counter to the requirements of the (federal stimulus),” she said. “It would directly contradict a letter recently submitted to the Department of Energy from the governor, where he pledges that we are making progress in implementing a statewide code.

Darrel Fournier, of the Maine Fire Chiefs Association, said exempting some towns from the code would put people at risk.

“The building code standards that are being proposed under the (statewide code) have been developed through many years of experiences and failures of certain systems,” he said. Examples include egress windows, fire separation and compartmentalization, smoke alarms and other life safety issues that protect the occupants and create value for the structure, he said.

The specifics of the uniform building code are still being worked out by a commission; no final draft has been made.

The bill is scheduled for a work session on Friday.

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