Owners of older commercial high-rises would be required to install sprinklers in their buildings, and all residential towers would have to undergo “life safety evaluations” that could lead to sprinkler retrofits under sweeping fire safety proposals planned by Mayor Daley, City Hall sources reported Tuesday.
Also in the works are mayoral proposals ranging from smoke detectors hardwired to the electrical system in all new residential buildings–including single-family homes–to “re-entry systems” that would be required in all commercial and residential properties four stories or higher in which doors lock automatically behind people who enter stairwells.
The changes have been under study for several years as the city rewrites its building code, section by section, officials said. But the new proposals, to be introduced at a City Council meeting Wednesday, come less than a month after a fire in the Cook County Administration Building at 69 W. Washington St. killed six people who died after becoming trapped in a stairwell.
Under existing city requirements, only commercial buildings over 80 feet high built after 1975 are required to have sprinklers. Under one Daley proposal, that threshold would be lowered to 35 feet–typically four stories–and would apply to most new residential as well as commercial structures.
Another major mayoral proposal would require landlords of pre-1975 commercial high-rises such as the one at 69 W. Washington to complete sprinkler retrofits in 12 years. Under a companion measure, apartment and condominium high-rises would be required to conduct evaluations, and a fire-safety point system would determine whether improvements would be mandated. But in older properties where rehabilitation work equals at least 50 percent of the building’s market value, sprinkler installation would be required as part of the project. The same would be true in commercial buildings undergoing major makeovers.
Separately, the council on Wednesday is expected to vote on a measure that would require sprinklers in all new and existing nightclubs with occupancies of at least 50 people.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Jane Hirt (jhirt@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
