Appeal 33535

OSSC Section 1029.3

1029.3 Construction and openings. Where an egress court serving a building or portion thereof is less than 10 feet in width, the egress court walls shall have not less than 1-hour fire-resistance-rated construction for a distance of 10 feet above the floor of the egress court. Openings within such walls shall be protected by opening protectives having a fire protection rating of not less than ¾ hour.

Agreement that the exterior ramp provided as an accessible means of egress adjacent to exterior steps along the exit discharge pathway serves no designated occupant load and therefore, is not required to meet the requirements of OSSC Section 1029.3 for an egress court condition. This alternate is being provided to address a plan check comment.

— The exit discharge path serves fewer than 100 occupants and includes steps.
— Since an accessible means of egress is required, a ramp is provided prior to the location of the steps.
— This accessible means of egress ramp is located adjacent to a non-rated, exterior wall with unprotected openings, including a fixed window and book return openings.
— This ramp and associated top landing is less than 10 feet in width and is bounded by a guardrail on the (plan) south side, thus creating a condition similar to an egress court; this condition is maintained for 18 feet of length.
— It is proposed that the accessible means of egress requirement may be applied independently from the exit discharge path requirement that is designated to serve a calculated number of occupants.
— Therefore, the accessible means of egress is serving no calculated occupant load.
— Per Section 1029.3 Exception 1, an egress court serving an occupant load of less than 10 does not need to meet the construction requirements of Section 1029.3 for walls and openings.

There is an exterior exit door and exit discharge path serving occupants egressing from the new addition on the (plan) east side of the building. This is not the library’s primary entrance/exit, but a secondary exit that serves as a required second means of egress, as well as staff entrance, delivery drop-off, and after-hours entry. The occupant load designated for egress through this secondary exit door is anticipated to be fewer than 100 occupants.

Once outside the building, occupants continue (plan) south along the egress path that is less than 10 ft wide and bounded by a guardrail on the (plan) west, thus forming an egress court condition that requires occupants to traverse a single path. While this (plan) east exterior wall is prescriptively compliant with the requirements of §1029.3, as occupants continue to the steps, there is a ramp provided to the (plan) east.

This ramp is not required to accommodate occupants in terms of egress capacity (the path down the stairs provides that and is more than adequate), but rather is only provided to meet the requirement for an accessible means of egress. The distance of travel adjacent to the non-rated exterior wall is 18 feet; past that, the ramp landing turns, allowing a path that is more than 10 feet from the same wall. In support of the concept that the wall be allowed non-rated with unprotected openings when serving no occupants, per OSSC Section 1029.3 Exception 1, a fire-resistance rating and opening protectives are not required for egress courts serving an occupant load of less than 10 occupants. In this case, the calculated occupant load served by the ramp is “0”. In other words, no occupants are designated as egressing down the ramp.

Apart from the fact that this path is not designated to accommodate a calculated occupant load, it is assumed that some portion of occupants will require an accessible path in a fire event. According to the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) estimate, approximately 7% of Americans report having a disability characterized with an ambulatory difficulty. Therefore, with fewer than 100 occupants, it is asserted that fewer than 10% of the population will require such accommodation, resulting in fewer than 10 actual occupants utilizing this egress court condition and thus, the intent of this code exception is met.

Attachment: MCL STJ Egress Court Appeal Attachment A