Appeal 35082

3405.6.1

A change of occupancy shall not be made in any building unless that building is made to comply with the new construction requirements of this code for the use or occupancy. Changes of occupancy in a building or portion thereof shall be such that the existing building is not less compliant with the provisions of this code than the existing building or structure was prior to the change. Subject to the approval of the building official, changes of occupancy shall be permitted without complying with all of the requirements of this code for the new occupancy, provided that the new occupancy is not more hazardous, based on life and fire risk, than the existing occupancy.

To allow for a change of occupancy to occur on the 2nd floor without needing to bring the [e] egress stairs and [e] egress doors into compliance with new construction requirements.

The second floor was previously all office use. We are proposing a change of use to Prep Kitchen and Storage for a portion of the space with the rest continued use as Offices. We do not propose any improvements to the existing egress stairs nor egress doors. This area is not open to the public and would only be used by restaurant staff.

The SW Exit has a door leaf of 30"; we propose to continue to use this door.

The proposed use of the space reduces the occupant load of the second floor by 14 occupants. The entire first floor will no longer use the SW exit reducing the number of occupants using this exit by a total of 28 occupants 1st floor and 2nd Floor combined). In addition we have strengthened the floor system of the altered area (to accommodate the change in loading) and are adding sprinklers throughout the building. Collectively these items serve to provide a reduced risk of life and fire from the previous use of the second floor as entirely office thereby making the new occupancy less hazardous regardless of it's Occupancy type.

303.3

A-2 occupancies include Restaurants and their associated commercial kitchens.

We propose the 2nd floor prep area to be classified an F-2 occupancy rather than A-2.

The 1st floor has a full commercial kitchen which is the primary kitchen of the restaurant. The 2nd floor will have a smaller prep space to support the business.

Nearly half of the business the kitchens serve is for off site consumption (take out / delivery). A kitchen that serves off site consumption would be F-2 therefore we feel that this classification is most accurate for the 2nd floor prep space since this space would not be needed without this aspect of the business. It's essentially a commissary kitchen for more than one restaurant location. As an F-2 occupancy it is clear that this 2nd floor kitchen space is reducing the hazard level of the building from it's previous use as Office rather than increasing (as an A-2 occupancy would suggest).