CBC Appendix H Patio Covers Design Criteria

[Duke Duarte]

I had a discussion with a building official recently regarding the design criteria for patio covers per the 2019 CBC Part 2.5 (Residential). Per section AH105 live loads may be 10 psf and cover shall be designed to resist wind loads per R301.2.1. User note language at the beginning of the section clarify that the structural design loads have been relaxed for patio covers. I interpret these provisions to not require seismic lateral loading. The relaxed design criteria may due to the either the favorable response to seismic loading and/or the low risk of this specific structure. Unfortunately, a local building official interprets AH105 to not explicitly exclude seismic loading and thus requires a complete seismic lateral load design based on ASCE 7. Anyone have any experience or additional information to add to this design criteria subject?