Politics & Government
HIGH-RISE SPRINKLER MANDATE: 'It Ain't Over Yet,' Aldermen Say
Unless you want your condo assessment fees jacked up $20,000, two North Side aldermen are urging you to contact an obscure state legislative committee to say no to a sprinkler mandate by 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Apparently the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s mandatory regulation requiring townhomes, condominium associations and co-ops to install sprinkler systems in high-rise buildings ain’t over yet, which has two North Side alderman and a state representative up in arms about an end-run to sneak the costly mandate through an obscure legislative committee.
Last year, Illinois State Fire Marshal Larry Matkaitis attempted to introduce the mandate that Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) and Ald. James Cappleman (46th) said would have added significant, cost-prohibitive and unnecessary burdens on area residents. Many local residents flooded state lawmakers with phone calls and emails, and Matkaitis withdrawing the proposal last August.
Everyone thought that was the end of it, but as of Tuesday afternoon, Tunney and Cappleman sent out email blasts notifying residents of state lobbyists’ efforts in Springfield to push a “similarly onerous mandate” through the Illinois General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.
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“Unfortunately, the most disturbing aspect of both the initial plan and the current proposal was the attempt to circumvent the state's legislative process by pushing the proposed regulations through a committee called the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.” Tunney said in his email blast.
Cappleman said that “this is not the committee that should be making the decision for an unfunded mandate of this magnitude.”
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Matkaitis told NBC News Chicago that every state fire marshal in the country is pushing for similar regulations, and he only wants to ensure that all Illinois residents are safe from fire.
Both aldermen say that the mandate would conflict with the City of Chicago's current Life Safety Ordinance, and more importantly, would add significant, cost-prohibitive and ultimately unnecessary burdens on area residents.
Introduced in 2005, Chicago’s Life Safety Ordinance requires new commercial and residential high-rise buildings 80 feet or taller to be equipped with sprinkler systems.
Pre-1975 residential high-rise buildings were grandfathered in, after condominium associations and building owners protested that retrofitting building would have cost millions of dollars to retrofit.
Instead, the city required older residential buildings to undergo annual life safety evaluations by a licensed architect or engineer to demonstrate that a specific high-rise building can provide a reasonable level of fire safety.
In lieu of sprinklers, such compensations including fire-rated stairway doors and door frames, and voice communication systems. The deadline for installing life safety features in older residential buildings was 2012.
“Let's be clear,” Tunney and Cappleman said, “a mandate of this magnitude is bad public policy and economically detrimental for many of our buildings.”
To counter the lobbyists’ efforts, State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (12th District) has introduced legislation with a stated requirement that any such proposal must first be vetted by the full legislature, the aldermen said.
The proposed legislation also establishes a task force to continue to look at the issue.
“State Rep. Feigenholtz's bill is a helpful step to make sure our residents are treated fairly and that a solution for fire safety is achieved without instituting a mandate,” Tunney said.
Both alderman are urging residents to contact the legislators who sit on the Rules Committee and tell them to vote for amendment to HB 4609. Such immediate action is needed by 1 p.m. today (Wednesday) when the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules is scheduled to meet:
Representative Jack D. Franks
63rd District
(217) 782-1717
Representative Dan Brady
105th District
(217) 782-1118
(309) 662-1100
(217) 607-5104
Representative John M. Cabello
68th District
(217) 782-0455
Representative David Harris
53rd District
(217) 782-3739
(224) 764-2440
Representative Wayne Rosenthal
95th District
(217) 782-8071
(217) 324-5200
Representative Carol A. Sente
59th District
(217) 782-0499
(847) 478-9909
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