07-25-1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Background Information Fire Sprinklers, Codes, Impacts Background and Significance: The City of Mounds View adopted, as part of the Uniform Building Code (UBC) Chapter 38 or Appendix E which is the automatic fire suppression systems provision. This action was taken by council in 1983. Recently, the issue has come back to council for re-adoption on two points, a technical procedure needs addressing and the fire department is recommending changing the threshold on certain occupancies to a lower level. The issue is before the EDC as a function of the commitment made by council and staff to advise the business community of any actions that may impact them. Chief Nyle Zikmund of the Fire Department will be on hand at the July 25 meeting to give a brief presentation and answer questions. Current Code: As adopted the sprinkler code (Chapter 38 or Appendix E) requires fire sprinklers in commercial and industrial buildings based upon square footage and occupancy classification. There are more than seven broad occupancy classes, many with numerous subdivisions. The most common occupancies are business, factory/storage, mercantile, educational, assembly, and educational. • Chapter 38 sets thresholds for each of these and requires the sprinklers under new construction or whenever any remodeling is done in which square footage is added. When added the total footage, new and addition, is combined for determining the threshold purposes. Situations arise where current buildings that are already over the threshold and were not sprinklered due to age or the fact that oversight occurs may have to sprinkle the entire building when they only add a very small addition. Schools are the best example of this when they propose to add.a 4,000 square foot addition to the kitchen and the entire 80,000 square foot complex must be sprinklered. However severe this may seem, the legislature enacted this provision as these are exactly the types of buildings, due to their size, that need sprinklers. Most situations do not fall into this example as most expansions and additions are typically doubling of space. The threshold limits for the broad categories are; 8,500 office/businnes and educational, 3,000 for service stations (repair shops) 5,000 for most assemblies (depends on occupant load and whether a stage is present, 5,000 for storage/factory/mercantile. The last category is subject to local adoption of a 2,000 threshold versus the 5,000 threshold. This is based upon more severe fire loads typical of these occupancies and documented losses allowing local jurisdictions to control the fire problem specific to their area. •