Appeal 12788

2014 OSSC 705.8, Openings

Table 705.8: Protected and unprotected openings are not permitted if fire separation distance is 0 to less than 3 feet.

The proposed full block development consists of:

1. The remodeling of the existing 2-story Jeanne Rivers building, Central City Concern (“CCC Building”) owned by Central City Concern and used as the home of the Crisis Assessment and Treatment Center (“CATC”) and the CCC Sobering Station/Central City Concern Hooper Inebriate Emergency Response Service (“CHIERS”). This building is Type V-A construction.
2. The construction of a new 3/4 block, 6-story mixed use housing and retail project at the 55 NE Grand Avenue address (“419 Building”), with at-grade and below grade parking garages. This building is Type I-A Construction below grade and at the ground floor level, and Type III-A Construction at floors above.

The CCC facility will be utilizing portions of the 419 Building across the property line via a cross access easement. Access by CCC to these portions of the 419 Building is essential to CCC’s ability to meet its programmatic funding and licensing needs as well as the safety needs of its staff, visitors, and patients. The use of these areas will be exclusively by CCC staff, visitors, and patients. Patients may have special needs while they are being treated for mental health and/or substance abuse problems.

This appeal focuses on the proposed design elements of the 419 Building that are needed for the CCC Building users to access portions of the 419 Building across the property line. Some of these appeal items are directly related to the design elements of the CCC Building that are described in the appeal filed congruently for that building, Appeals 12739 and 12787. For this reason, and to facilitate clarity, the same exhibits for each appeal are attached for both properties.

This appeal is intended to facilitate the required access while providing an equivalent or greater level of life safety protection at the shared wall locations. Key points of the appeal are the following:
• Openings in the exterior walls at the property line on the ground floor between the CCC Building and the ground level parking garage of the 419 Building (dedicated for use to the CCC facility via a cross access easement). Proposed is a fire shutter at one of the two locations and a fire door at the other location.

Location A: CCC Covered Exterior CATC Entry Walkway and Ground Floor Garage Connection (Refer to Exhibits A, C, D, F, and H).
• A 3-hour door with a closer is proposed in the 3-hour, 419 Building exterior wall of the ground floor parking garage. (Refer also to the CCC Building Appeals 12739 and 12787.) This door will remain closed when not in active use for entry and exit between the CCC Building covered exterior entry walkway and the ground floor parking garage of the 419 Building.
• The ground floor garage of the 419 Building is dedicated for use by the CCC facility via a cross access easement.
• The door will serve as a required 2nd emergency exit from the ground floor parking garage. See Appeal Item 2.
• The door will serve as a secure access point to the garage for CCC staff and visitors.

Location B: CCC Sobering Station Admittance and 419 Building Ground Floor Garage Connection. (Refer to Exhibits A, D, F – location B, and H).
• A 3-hour automatic fire shutter is proposed to protect this opening in the 3-hour exterior wall of the 419 Building.
• The ground floor garage of the 419 Building is dedicated for use by the CCC facility via a cross access easement.
• Where conventional protected openings are allowed to be either 90 minute rated (per Table 715.5) or protected by water curtain (per Section 705.8.2), the proposed 3 hour automatic fire shutter in the 419 Building wall will exceed that in the event of a fire by maintaining the same 3-hour fire rating as that required for an exterior wall per Table 601.
• This opening does not serve required emergency exits from either the CCC building or the 419 Building.
• Immediately adjacent to this opening, in the 1-hour CCC Building wall, there is proposed an opening with 1-hour fire shutter. (Refer to the CCC Building Appeals 12739 and 12787).
• The fire shutters will be tied into their respective buildings’ alarm systems on a fusible link.

There is a cross access easement in place allowing CCC users exclusive use of the ground floor parking garage in the 419 Building. This was required by Multnomah County as a condition if the sale of the 1/4 block that has the CCC Building to Trinsic Residential Group. The occupants and users of the 419 Building will not have access to this parking garage area. The proposed openings are essential for the reasons listed below:

Location A: CCC Covered Exterior CATC Entry Walkway and 419 Building Ground Floor Garage Connection.
• CCC is a 24 hours a day, 7 days per week operation with staff coming and going at all hours. It is important for staff and users to be ensured safety by being able to exit their building’s covered exterior entry walkway directly to their dedicated ground level parking garage in the 419 Building through Location A.
• The proposed 3-hour fire door in the 3-hour, 419 Building wall serves as a required 2nd emergency exit for the ground floor parking garage. (Refer also to the CCC Building Appeals 12739 and 12787.)

Location B: CCC Sobering Station Admittance and 419 Building Ground Floor Garage Connection.
The opening from the Sobering Station Admittance to the dedicated ground level parking garage in the 419 Building is critical for safe and secure police and EMT drop-off of patients from within the garage’s drop off area.
• Per Life Safety plans of both buildings, this opening is not a required emergency exit.
• The proposed design for Location B provides equivalent life safety because the fire shutters provide the same or better fire rating as required for the respective exterior wall assemblies within 3 feet of the property line. Proposed is a 1-hour fire shutter in the 1-hour CCC Building wall and a 3-hour fire shutter in the 3-hour, 419 Building wall.

OSSC 2014 Section 1027.5

The exit discharge shall provide a direct and unobstructed access to a public right of way.

Location A - CCC Covered Exterior CATC Entry Walkway and Ground Floor Garage Connection. (Refer to Exhibits A, C, and F).
• The 2nd required means of egress from the first floor garage is through the door in the west exterior wall, providing direct access to the CCC property. The door opens into an exterior exit passageway that leads directly to the street.
• The ground floor garage of the 419 Building is dedicated for use by the CCC facility via a cross access easement.
• If there is a change of ownership nullifying the access easement, and the owners of the 419 building seek to then take over use of the ground floor parking garage, then they would add a 2nd means of egress for the garage within the boundaries of the 419 building property.
• The door will serve as a required 2nd emergency exit from the ground floor parking garage to the exit passageway leading directly to the sidewalk. The door will be equipped with an exit sign on the garage side. The exit passageway has been sized to accommodate the occupants from the garage who will use it in the case of an emergency.

Second Floor Patio:
Openings for physical access to a 2nd Floor patio at the 419 Building. (Refer to Exhibits B and G ):
• The 2nd floor patio is 567 square feet and serves the 2nd floor residential component of the CCC building. The patio occupants will egress through the CCC building.
• There is a cross access easement in place allowing CCC exclusive use of the outdoor patio that will be built on the second floor of the 419 Building.
• The patio can only be accessed from the 2nd floor of the CCC space (R-4 Occupancy), and requires close visual monitoring by CCC staff through the glass of the proposed door and windows to the patio.
• There is no way for any occupants of the 419 Building to access this patio.
• The door to the patio will not be locked and will be used for egress from the patio for CCC users only. It will be equipped with an exit sign on the patio side.
• If the owners of the 419 Building seek to make openings in their walls to take over the 2nd floor patio (in the event that the access easement becomes nullified in a change of ownership scenario), the openings from the CCC building to the patio would get closed in and the 419 building owners would provide exit access from the patio from within its own property.

There is a cross access easement in place allowing CCC users exclusive use of the ground floor parking garage in the 419 Building as well as the area of the 2nd floor patio above. This was required by Multnomah County as a condition if the sale of the 1/4 block that has the CCC Building to Trinsic Residential Group. The occupants and users of the 419 Building will not have access to these areas. The proposed openings are essential for the reasons listed below:

Location A: CCC Covered Exterior CATC Entry Walkway and 419 Building Ground Floor Garage Connection.
• CCC is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week operation with staff coming and going at all hours. It is important for staff and users to be ensured safety by being able to exit their building’s covered exterior entry walkway directly to their dedicated ground level parking garage in the 419 Building through Location A.
• The proposed 3-hour fire door in the 3-hour 419 Building wall serves as a required 2nd emergency exit for the ground floor parking garage. (Refer also to the CCC Building Appeals 12739 and 12787).
• There is no other feasible location for the 2nd exit door from the parking garage that would not affect the garage’s function.
• The garage is an extension of the CCC building program and egress from the garage to the exit passageway on the CCC property would not be counter-intuitive.

Second Floor Patio:
• The CCC Building is required to have an outdoor space with a direct physical and visual connection to the CCC building in in order to maintain functionality, funding, and licensing of the CCC building’s program.
• There is an access easement in place allowing CCC users exclusive use of this patio. The occupants and users of the 419 Building will not have access to this patio.
• The patio is an extension of the CCC building program and egress from the patio through the building would not be counter-intuitive.

Example:
New Market West at 135 SW Ash is an example of a multi- owner building with openings through property line walls. This building appeal was approved in 1996 for an interdependent exiting system using shared stair enclosures and rated openings in property line walls. The 2 hour stair enclosures had 2 hour walls, and 90 minute doors with closers. All cross corridor doors in 1 hour corridors were required to be 20 minute doors with magnetic hold opens tied to the alarm system.