Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout12011994 BSC Minutes~ • • BlI1LDING AND STANDARDS COMMISSION REGIILAR SESSION 3800 UNIVERSITY BLVD. THIIRSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1994 6:30 P.M. MINUTES The Building and Standards Commission convened in the Municipal Building, 3800 Llniversity Blvd. in the City of West University Place on December 1 st, 1994 for a regular session with the following members present: Chairman Drew McManigle via telephone, Les Albin, Roy Harper, Evelyn Dravis and Craig Hughes. Craig DuCote, ]ames Todd, )ames Collier and James McDaniel were absent. Present from the City were Dennis Holm, Chief Building Official and Cathleen King, Building Secretary. The first item on the agenda was the Hearing of Residents. No one was present. The next item on the agenda was consideration of 94-08 concerning property located at 3611 llniversity, Lots 7,8,9,10 and N 1/2 of 6 and 11, Block 25, West University Place l st Addition, a request for a variance on the maximum oc~,upancy of a building. • Dennis Holm, Chief Building Official gave the City's position. He explained that since this door that the Church would like to be locked is a required means of egress he felt that the Church would have to go before the Building and Standards Commission to seek permission for the door to be locked. ]ohn Collier Pastor of the West University Methodist Church and Rob Owens, Architect were present speaking on behalf of the Church. ]ohn Collier explained they were there to appeal to have the second floor door on one of their Gyms locked during activities that do not involve a high intensity of population. He stated that four or five days a week they have activities that go on and most of the activities will have fewer than one hundred (100) people, probably the majority of the activities will have fewer than fifty ( 50) people, maybe as much as a third will have as many as twenty five (25) people and his major concern was having the door that leads into their office area and the parlor area unlocked with no administrative staff present. What they would like to be able to do primarily in the evening hours when there is no staff there, is to lock the office door leaving three other doors unlocked that can be exited in case of emergency so that they would not have to be concerned about their computers, files and other important things that would be inside there. ]ohn Collier passed out calendar that showed activities that were planned for 1995 through May of 1996. Rev. Collier stated that he felt that there would not be more than • 100 or 150 people in the Gym at one time during this time. When the Gyms opens all the activities will be for groups of twenty-five, fifty or rarely as ~ • M many as a hundred, therefore with three exits he believes that number of people can easily be accommodated. With this request granted no one would have access into administrative offices where the computers and so forth are by keeping that door locked, when there is no full time staff person there. Rev. Collier explained that he thought that this is a reasonable request because any time that they have an activity that involves more than a hundred people they would always have enough staff on board and therefore they would keep that office door open. Rob Owens stated that on the variance application there is a reference that this would be a temporary condition until phase two of the master plan was constructed. In phase two the office wing would be replaced, but at this time he explained that phase two was not currently contemplated. Phase one which is the building that is presently under construction would be completed and the debt retired probably before anyone got serious about phase two. But phase two did offer a possibility of having restricted access that would get you to the stairs. In essence phase two could be designed to accommodate the and also rectify the situation. Drew McManigle asked what the code says about the number of exits, what does the egress look like if you have a hundred people in this place with only three exits. Dennis Holm stated that the conservative approach and only using the width of the • doorways that are involved here, you could exit three hundred people on the second floor only. Drew McManigle stated that based on the information that has been presented to him he concludes that they will be far below the maximum amount that is required. Craig Hughes stated his concerns not only for the fact that the Gym will only have three exits but that the office if locked will only have one exit. Rob Owens stated that since it is an administrative office it is considered to be a B occupancy and therefore it is allowed to have only one exit access. When the building is full they need to have panic hardware on the exit doors so they would need to lock from the egress side on this door. This door is intended to provide a second way out for this zone so the people could still exit this way if there were an occupant in there where as under normal circumstances there would be between the hours from eight a.m. to five p.m. Craig Hughes stated that with the stairs located there it would prohibit that exit from being usable per code exit, it has to be a unrestricted exit. Rob Owens stated that one code references we did include in the variance request makes reference to section 1120. 7 which permits an exception that allows you an exit door in a ~ group A2 occupancy up to three hundred (300) people, he stated that they are clear that their maximum occupancy is in excess of three hundred and therefore that exception does not directly apply but they believe what the code is recognizing here is the sort of . ~ ~ • circumstance that they are talking about and they felt it necessary to limit the occupancy to some number under which this exception was permitted, they are asking that they be allowed to exercise that exception at the time there occupancy falls below that number which they anticipate it will. Drew McManigle asked if they could install a fairly visible sign that states the rate of the room. Rob Owens stated that he believes that is a requirement of the fire code and one of the requirements of the Fire Marshall. Evelyn Dravis made a motion to grant the variance with the agreement that they keep the maximum load down. Roy Harper seconded the motion. All voting aye Variance granted with the condition that the occupancy be no greater that the maximum of 200 people at one time. The next item on the agenda was approval of the minutes from the November 3, 1994 meeting. Roy Harper made a motion to approve the minutes. Evelyn Dravis seconded the • motion. All voting aye. Les Albin made a motion to adjourn the meeting. This motion was seconded by Roy Harper. All voting aye. The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m. , CH IRM N Att t: secretary •