Appeal 34962

PFC 503.1.1

Approved fire apparatus access roads shall be provided for every facility, building, or portion of a building hereafter constructed or moved within the jurisdiction. The fire apparatus access road shall comply with the requirements of this section and shall extend to within 150 ft of all portions of the facility and all portions of the exterior walls of the first story of the building as measured by an approved route around the exterior of the building or facility.

Exceptions:

The fire code official is authorized to modify sections 503.1 and 503.2 where any of the following conditions occur:
1.1 The building is equipped throughout with an approved automatic sprinkler system installed in accordance with section 903.3.1.1, 903.3.1.2, or 903.3.1.3.
1.2: Fire apparatus access roads cannot be installed because of location on property, topography, waterways, non negotiable grades or other similar conditions, and an approved alternate means of fire protection is provided.
1.3" There are not more than two group R-3 or Group U occupancies.

We are requesting that for this project, the approved distance from the most remote portion of exterior walls of the proposed structure to a fire apparatus access road (S Virginia St) be 350'. We are also requesting that this section be modified despite there being more than two type R-3 occupancies.

The proposed project is a new 6 unit cottage cluster (Group R-3). Each building is one story with a daylight basement and each roughly 1400 sf in area. Units 2-6 have a hose pull length which exceeds 150' and will be equipped with an NFPA 13D automatic sprinkler system, and will also have class A siding and roofing materials (fiber cement siding and asphalt shingles). Unit 1 will also have class A siding and roofing materials to match. Units 2, 3, and 5 have a hose pull of less than 250' and Units 4 & 6 have a hose pull of less than 330'. While S Virginia is the only compliant ROW adjacent to the site, there are other access points as well. S Laview lies to the west of the site, S Miles could be an access point via a private driveway easement on property in the same ownership to the north, and S Logan is an unimproved ROW directly south of the property.

Early on in this project we conducted an Early Assistance meeting as well as multiple 15 minute appointments with the Fire Department. We discussed access from S Laview and at the time were told that access would be acceptable from a fire truck on S Laview and accessed via the paved portion of S Logan. Although firefighter access can be provided to the new structures, the steep grade (20%) and deep lot size and the configuration of the other adjacent ROWs (S Logan and S Laview) does not allow for a code compliant fire apparatus access to the rearmost units. The proposed units 2-6 are dispersed throughout the site to meet zoning and code requirements. Because the proposed units will be sprinklered with an NFPA 13D sprinkler system; the fact that the proposed structures are small, one-story w/ basement structures with fire resistant exterior materials; the site constraints that prevent a code compliant fire-apparatus access road to be provided; and that no more than two dwellings (Group R-3) exceed a 250' hose pull, we believe an increase in the distance of the fire apparatus access to the most remote exterior walls on the proposed structure to a distance of 350' should be considered.