Photo by Bonnie Malec
At the regular pre-meeting of the Mountain Brook City Council on July 11, council members discussed a possible update to the requirements set out in the building codes for residential fire sprinkler systems.
Current code requires sprinklers to be installed in new residential construction, but homeowners may request an exemption after conferring with the city’s Fire Marshal. This exemption is not granted, however, when the dwelling being constructed is less than seven feet from the property line.
Building official Glen Merchant and Chief Leland Rhudy, Fire Marshal, explained that this exception needs to be expanded to include new homes with driveways with a change of grade greater than 10% and homes built 250 feet or more from the public right of way because the hoses the fire trucks carry are 250 feet long.
“Most of the lots left for new construction are straight up and down,” said Merchant. “If a person can’t walk up and down the driveway safely or easily, imagine the difficulty for first responders trying to get to the house. We have some driveways where the fire trucks have to go through multiple S-curves and risk damage to the trucks just to get to the house.”
Chief Rhudy said another issue is that the fire truck must park so close to the house that it is then in a collapse zone.
“We aren’t wanting to put more of a burden on homeowners, but we want to let people know that there are things that can happen in these difficult access situations,” said Rhudy.
City Attorney Whit Colvin said the new language proposed should help homeowners plan for safety.
“This will help to move conversations to the front end,” Colvin said. “If you build a house 500 or 700 or 1,000 feet off the road or that’s on this kind of grade, we need to build in some safeguards in case something happens and we can’t get to you in time.”
The council requested the proposed change be reviewed by local builders and architects and then put on the formal agenda.
Mountain Brook Fire Department recently purchased a new fire truck weighing in at 87,000 pounds undressed and approximately 93,000 pounds dressed, Rhudy said. He has been contacting homeowners near 32 residential bridges built in the 1960s and 1970s for help in getting structural engineers out to ensure each bridge is safe for the new truck.
“So far the response has been very positive,” he said.
Also during the meeting:
Council President Virginia Smith read the Parks and Recreation Month Proclamation and presented an official certificate to Shanda Williams, Parks and Recreation Superintendent. The Proclamation is designed to officially acknowledge the importance of parks and recreation and the benefits it provides to the community.
A resolution was approved between the city and Granicus, a software company, to use the company’s software to handle garbage service complaints.
A resolution was approved to award the bid for the outfitting of new take-home patrol vehicles to Mobile Communications of America.
The City Council will hold a work session on Wednesday, July 20, to discuss drainage issues and priorities. ALDOT will discuss the proposed four-laning of Highway 280 from Hollywood Boulevard to I-459 and the replacement of the Pumphouse Road Bridge.
The next council meeting will be on July 25, at 7 p.m.
