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REPORT <br />To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From the City Manager <br /> <br />June 8, 2015 <br />SUBJECT <br />Ordinance Requiring Automatic Sprinkler Systems for Residential Buildings with Four <br />Units or More <br /> <br />RECOMMENDATION <br />Waive Second Reading and Adopt an Ordinance Amending Sections 12.18 and 12.15 <br />of the City Fire Code and Section 9.3 of the City Building Code to Require Automatic <br />Sprinkler Systems in Multi-Unit Residential Buildings of Four Units or More and to Make <br />Violations of this Requirement a Misdemeanor <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br />During its May 18, 2015, meeting, the City Council introduced an ordinance to require <br />buildings lacking a City permitted Automatic Sprinkler System, as defined in the State <br />Fire & Building Code, to install them within five (5) years. The ordinance is presented <br />now for second reading and adoption. If adopted, it will become law in thirty (30) days. <br />ANALYSIS <br />As described in the May 18, 2015, staff report, the community of Redwood City has <br />experienced a number of serious apartment fires with far-reaching impact on the <br />community and the City. <br />In the opinion of the California State Fire Marshal (CSFM) and the City’s Fire Marshal, <br />the best form of protection against multi-unit residential fires is a combination of smoke <br />alarms and Automatic Sprinkler Systems. Smoke alarms are already required in <br />apartment buildings. Although Automatic Sprinkler Systems became required in multi- <br />unit residential buildings effective July 1, 1989, the decision whether to require <br />retrofitting of pre-July 1, 1989 apartment buildings has been left to local jurisdictions to <br />decide what is appropriate for their communities. <br />The City’s Fire Chief and Fire Marshall recommend that City’s Fire Code be amended to <br />require that effective July 1, 2020, all multi-unit residential buildings with four units or <br />more regardless of when constructed be retrofitted with a City permitted Automatic <br />Sprinkler Systems. This gives building owners five years to come into compliance <br />voluntarily. Failure to install an Automatic Sprinkler System or to maintain a building <br />without this protection is established as a misdemeanor violation and may be addressed <br />by the City in a number of ways including criminal enforcement. <br />7.4.A. - Page 1