Agenda - Council - 01/10/2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City was trying to work with someone and create a three-year "bridge" after which it was to be sprinkled. Fire Chief Kapler stated the building was not sprinkled and there were some tradeoffs to allow that "bridge" to be put into place. Building Official Kaehler advised that a rated wall divides the church and other area and there are fire doors with closures so if there is a fire, the doors shut and provide a one -hour barrier. Councilmember McGlone stated he thinks the IUP was improperly worded and if the City did not have the ability to change the Code, the church should not have been allowed three years ago. Now the Council has approved another IUP. He felt the most flexible thing the Council could do is get rid of Chapter 1306 to gain flexibility to apply a lesser standard. Councilmember Tossey read Chapter 1306, the Subpart 1 requirement, and indicated he does not think the City has to adopt both subparts. Fire Chief Kapler noted the change in use will trigger the requirement anyway. Acting Mayor Wise stated the discussion was to determine if there was room in the Code as adopted and ramifications if Chapter 1306 is "unadopted." He noted staff may be able to provide a cost comparison between requiring sprinkling and requiring fire suppression construction measures. Fire Chief Kapler stated he is an advocate of sprinkler systems and the fire service side has targeted assemblies because it is the highest risk of life loss. He felt the City would be missing the opportunity to provide a safer environment to areas changed from a previous use to an assembly use if Chapter 1306 is dropped. Acting Mayor Wise stated he does not mean to detract from safety but the City has to consider that the Fire Code places a huge financial burden and the Council is weighing public safety to economic burden. Councilmember McGlone stated he believes that requiring sprinkling crushes businesses and puts the City in a position of paying $100,000 for a sprinkling system that would not have been required if the City had "unadopted" Chapter 1306. City Administrator Ulrich asked whether the Council wants staff to look for areas of flexibility for existing structures and determine how to introduce flexibility in the Code that is defensible legally and from a public safety standpoint. Councilmember Strommen stated it makes sense to get information and she is willing to look at it. However, she is concerned the Council is considering making a big policy change based on several recent cases. Councilmember Strommen noted you can flip the situation around that if there had been a fire in one of these places with a tragic incident, the Council would respond in a different way. She stated she wants to be sure the Council is thinking about policy and not being reactionary. The Council needs to be thoughtful and looking at additional information will help. City Council Work Session / December 6, 2011 Page 8 of 12