The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutMARCH, OLIVE & PHARRIS, LLC LAW OFFICES - PDP - PDP140008 - CORRESPONDENCE - FIRE AUTHORITY REQUIREMENTS102 Remington St. Fort Collins, CO 80524 970-416-2869 To: Brad March Subject: fire lane specifics Hello Mr. March, I went into the city database and simply copied and pasted into this email, those comments which you'll receive as part of the final comment letter from our meeting on 3/182015. 1 hope the information is clear but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. If you feel it necessary to circle back with questions to either Assistant Fire Marshal, Ron Gonzales or Fire Marshal, Bob Poncelow, then I would invite you to respond as you see appropriate. City database comments for project March, Olive, & Pharris, LLC — Law Offices FIRE ACCESS 03/18/2015: Contrary to the applicant's comment in the most recent response letter, fire access requirements for this site have NOT been met. Prior fire department comment from 09/03/2014 (below), remains active. An Emergency Access Easement on the property will be needed or the building will require a fire sprinkler system as a means for offsetting the lack of access condition. Fire lane standards require 20' width but the fire marshal will allow a four foot width reduction (to 16). Plan revisions will need to be reviewed prior to approval. 09/03/2014: FIRE LANES The issue of fire access to this property needs to be revisited. It's now my understanding the proposal to share a drive aisle with the commercial property to the south has been rescinded and fire access will need to be achieved on -site as we cannot take access off of College Ave. Please contact me to discuss this further. Code reference provided below. Code language and Fire lane specifications are provided below. IFC 503.1.1: Fire Lanes shall be provided to within 150' of all portions of the building, as measured by an approved route around the exterior of the building. When fire lanes cannot be provided, the fire code official is authorized to increase the dimension of 150 feet if the building is equipped throughout with an approved, automatic fire -sprinkler system. FIRE LANE SPECIFICATIONS A fire lane plan shall be submitted for approval prior to installation. In addition to the design criteria already contained in relevant standards and policies, any new fire lane must meet the following general requirements: > Shall be designated on the plat as an Emergency Access Easement. > Maintain the required 20 foot minimum unobstructed width & 14 foot minimum overhead clearance. > Be designed as a flat, hard, all-weather driving surface capable of supporting 40 tons. > Dead-end fire access roads in excess of 150 feet in length shall be provided with an approved area for turning around fire apparatus. > The required turning radii of a fire apparatus access road shall be a minimum of 25 feet inside and 50 feet outside. Turning radii shall be detailed on submitted plans. > Be visible by painting and/or signage, and maintained unobstructed at all times. > Additional access requirements exist for buildings greater than 30' in height. Refer to Appendix D of the 2012 IFC or contact PFA for details. International Fire Code 503.2.3, 503.2.4, 503.2.5, 503.3, 503.4 and Appendix D; FCLUC 3.6.2(B)2006 and Local Amendments. Jim Lynxwiler Poudre Fire Authority Community Safety Services 3 If you feel that another meeting is the next best step in moving the project along, I'm happy to arrange that. Thank you, Jim Lynxwiler Poudre Fire Authority Community Safety Services 102 Remington St. Fort Collins, CO 80524 970-416-2869 From: Brad March [mailto:bmarch@bmarchlaw.coml Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2015 4:22 PM To: Jim Lynxwiler Cc: Bob Poncelow; Ron Gonzales Subject: RE: fire lane specifics - 1312 S. College development Jim, We have been looking at PFA's requirements re fire access. The engineer says the fire access lane and likely weight requirements will dictate a 6" concrete depth yielding a driveway cost of $10k+ . There is further concern surrounding what PFA wants to see as an entry off College to meet turning radius requirements, depending on design PFA needs this will also increase the attendant costs. There is a concern that adding additional width on the driveway will take us outside of the maximum 1,000 sq. ft. storm drainage threshold for hardscaped areas. This suggests the possibility of using some type of grasscrete product to address the storm drainage problem. Apparently grasscreete is more costly than 6" concrete but I gather grasscrete has been accepted in the past by PFA. Planning already had a requirement for a 4' front sidewalk (widened from the existing 2'). Historical preservation did not want the walk running directly from the street to the front stoop but wanted the walk adjacent and paralleling the historical entry/drive. We need to design the drive to meet your weight, not run afoul of storm drainage and still maintain the historical integrity. For cost reasons, in a perfect world we would like to keep the existing asphalt access, while the access would accommodate ambulance traffic issues would exist for fire apparatus. Addressing the drive is likely doable (although there are questions whether we break the bank) but a meeting to discuss how PFA wants to balance all of the factors probably would be helpful. You offered a meeting and we may want to take you up on your offer. Could we see if there would be a good time next week to sit down and chat through the issues. Thanks for your patience and your help. J. Brad March March, Olive and Pharris, LLC. Attorneys at Law 110 E. Oak, Fort Collins, CO 80524 Phone:970-482-4322, Fax:970-482-5719 Email: Bmarch(cDbmarchlaw.com From: Jim Lynxwiler [mailto:jlynxwiler@poudre-fire.org Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2015 12:03 PM 2 Noah Beals From: K. Schutt <kschutt@wicklaw.com> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 2:20 PM To: Noah Beals Subject: RE: fire lane specifics - 1312 S. College development Thanks for keeping me in the loop Kim From: Noah Beals [mailto:nbeals@fcgov.com] Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 11:53 AM To: K. Schutt (kschutt@wicklaw.com) Subject: FW: fire lane specifics - 1312 S. College development FYI Noah Beals Senior City Planner -Zoning City of Fort Collins 970 416-2313 970 224-6134 Fax From: Jim Lynxwiler Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 11:53 AM To: 'Brad March' Cc: Bob Poncelow; Ron Gonzales; Noah Beals Subject: RE: fire lane specifics - 1312 S. College development Hello Mr. March, I'm sympathetic to your problem and recognize the property at 1312 S College has created some challenges for us all to overcome. Changing the occupancy group classification from R-residential to B-commercial requires the property to be brought up to minimum standards for both fire access and water supply. Fortunately, the waterline replacement project which the city undertook last summer along College Ave, resolved some long standing deficiencies in the area. With that problem behind us, we need only consider our access requirements to help your project move forward. Standards for fire access are regulated by the 2012 International Fire Code and minimum standards apply to every building. In the case of your property, the existing site constraints are recognized by all of us involved, and we understand present circumstances make it challenging for you to comply with the letter of the code. Obviously, if there was an easy answer we would have already found it. I met with the fire marshal after our meeting last week and he agreed to relax our standards to better support your needs while maintaining functional access to the property. If those, modified fire lane specifications cannot be met either, I might suggest we consider sprinklering the building as an alternative means of code compliance. IFC503.1.1 allows for access standards to be further relaxed at the when buildings are equipped with an automatic fire sprinkler system. Code language is provided below. • IFC 503.1.1: Fire Lanes shall be provided to within 150' of all portions of the building, as measured by an approved route around the exterior of the building. When fire lanes cannot be provided, the fire code official is authorized to increase the dimension of 150 feet if the building is equipped throughout with an approved, automatic fire -sprinkler system.