FDNY To Revise New Sprinkler Law
New code will likely tie fire-extinguishing requirement
to the size or cost of the home improvement
Staten Island Advance 2/21/09
The Fire Department will amend a new law requiring sprinklers as part of home renovations -- a provision that local architects argue is stalling work and threatening to add at least $20,000 to even the smallest of improvement projects.
"We are finalizing interim guidelines that will clarify when an alteration would require sprinklers. It was never our intention to have minor alterations require sprinklers throughout a building. We are planning to release further details in the very near future," FDNY spokesman Steve Ritea said yesterday.
News of the changes came one day after FDNY lawyers met with the Staten Island chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and a host of engineers and builders on the Island to discuss the new regulation, which the local AIA has complained is confusing and burdensome and could require a homeowner renovating a bathroom or upgrading a kitchen to install sprinklers throughout the house.
One builder asked the mayor about the sprinkler law on his radio address early yesterday. The caller identified himself as Richard, a builder in New York City, and cited a Feb. 8 Advance story on the issue when he asked about the sprinkler requirement.
But even the mayor seemed confused.
"I just don't know," replied Bloomberg. "You draft a regulation and every once in a while you say it didn't make any sense in this one case. Our building codes have been updated for the first time in many years, and deaths from fires and accidents are way down."
STALLED CONSTRUCTION
Ritea declined to give details on the proposed changes until they are completed, but architects who attended Thursday night's packed meeting at the Oriental Plaza in Bulls Head said the revised code will likely tie the sprinkler requirement to the size or cost of a home renovation.
Marino and others have said that construction jobs across the city are stalled as the Buildings Department tries to figure out how to enforce the sprinkler rule on renovations. Those delays, they've noted, are the last thing the struggling construction industry needs.
"It is very much a time-of-the-essence thing, and we made that clear to the Fire Department," Marino, an architect and head of the local AIA, said of the need for changes to the law.
One of the problems is that the current law makes no distinction between a major home renovation such as an addition or a small upgrade.
The sprinkler law, which also pertains to new construction, applies to buildings on all public streets deemed to be of "substandard width," or 38 feet or less. On Staten Island and around the city, that's the majority of public streets.
Some architects who attended Thursday's meeting said Fire Department counsel told them that the added cost of sprinklers was not the concern of the department, which focuses on public safety first.
"I think the very fact that we are working to address this issue demonstrates our sensitivity to cost and balancing that with public safety," Ritea countered yesterday.
ADDRESSING THE SITUATION
Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), who voted for the sprinkler law last summer, said the rule was part of a massive overhaul of the Fire Department building code. Like other code changes, he noted, potential problems may not be obvious until the law is applied, and he has been lobbying to change it.
But Oddo also worries that an interim modification of the city code -- before the City Council officially votes on it -- means architects will still have to go to the Fire Department to get approval for their renovations before they can get Buildings Department permits.
"I don't know who at the Fire Department is ready to handle that," he said.
Ritea said he did not think there would be such an added step. And a spokeswoman for Buildings said her agency is working with fire officials to address the situation.
Architect Ronald Victorio is hoping the changes will allow his clients to proceed with a home addition. The couple had twins three weeks ago but has been unable to start renovating because they were not sure whether they'd have to spend another $30,000 to install sprinklers in the house.
"I think it's a move in the right direction and I think the Fire Department has heard us," Victorio said of the imminent changes.
Karen O'Shea covers real estate news for the Advance. She may be reached at oshea@siadvance.com.
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