Council committee approves ordinance to allow single-stair apartment buildings up to six stories with safety conditions

The Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved a draft ordinance on a motion to allow single-exit, single-stair apartment buildings up to six stories, provided specified life-safety enhancements are in place and the ordinance becomes operative only if the state amends the California Building Code or the California Building Standards Commission approves the provisions and the city amends its fire code.

Committee members and city departments said the change aims to unlock housing on small parcels while adding measures fire officials say balance some risks. The committee voted to adopt the draft ordinance as amended; the roll call was Bloomfield: aye, Hutt: no, Nazarian: aye, Lee: aye, Raman: yes (4–1).

City Department of Building and Safety manager Rudy Arias described the core technical elements proposed for inclusion in the California Building Code: a new section allowing single-exit, single-stair R-2 apartment buildings up to six stories, limits of four dwelling units per floor, NFPA 13 sprinklers throughout, pressurized interior stairs where provided, maximum 125-foot travel distance to exits, and other provisions adapted in part from Seattle’s code. "This proposed ordinance is looking to add a new section to the California building code... which would allow for single exit buildings again up to 6 stories," Arias said during the presentation.

David Perez, Fire Deputy Chief and Fire Marshal, told the committee the Fire Department worked with Building and Safety and Planning on the draft and that the department views the ordinance as “a reasonable accommodation” to normal two-stair requirements. Perez said the 30 listed conditions in the draft are intended to offset the loss of a second stair. "Is it a 100% better than having 2 stairwells? No, sir. Our position is that it is not. However, we do believe that with what we have here today, so long as there are no amendments ... that would weaken or remove any of these 30 conditions ... we believe we have something that we can work with and sign off on," Perez said.

Supporters from development and housing groups urged approval. Ani Boyajan of the Central City Association said reducing the two-stair requirement “allows for efficient development on small parcels of land to produce larger, better lit, and ventilated family units.” Jacob Pierce, policy analyst for Abundant Housing LA, and Jesse Zwick, Southern California director of the Housing Action Coalition, also urged the committee to move forward but asked staff to revisit several technical provisions—Zwick warned that some added limits in the draft could make projects infeasible and urged consultation with the AIA Los Angeles chapter.

Committee members pressed officials on firefighter access, smoke control and evacuation logistics, and how many parcels could realistically benefit from the change. Perez and building officials said an interior stair would be pressurized and that if a stair’s pressurization failed they would use blowers carried on fire trucks to maintain smoke control; they acknowledged that single-stair access could slow simultaneous evacuation and firefighting movements but argued the draft conditions mitigate those risks. Planning staff said they do not yet have a precise parcel count for where the ordinance would be used and described the qualifying typology as narrow.

The ordinance as amended also contains an operative-date contingency: it will become operative only if the state adopts changes that make the provisions lawful or the California Building Standards Commission approves them, and the city amends its fire code to reflect the ordinance’s life-safety requirements. Committee members said that contingency is intended to avoid conflicts with state law and to allow the ordinance to be on the books before a statutory deadline that would otherwise limit code changes.

The committee instructed the city attorney to transmit the draft ordinance to the council file for full council consideration and asked staff to continue outreach and analysis before initiating related zoning changes. The committee also directed that the fire and building departments must be consulted on any further amendments.

The ordinance passed the committee as amended (4–1). If adopted by the full City Council and approved by the state or Building Standards Commission per the contingency, the change would allow the single-stair typology in Los Angeles under the specified safety requirements.