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Board grants one-year variance allowing Taft Middle School to use corridors as temporary area-of-refuge
Summary
The Building and Fire Code Board of Appeals granted a time-limited variance enabling Oklahoma City Public Schools to use existing corridors and restrooms as the "best available area of refuge" while a compliant storm shelter is completed; the board approved the variance 4-2 after an earlier tie and a successful motion to reconsider.
The Building and Fire Code Board of Appeals voted 4-2 on Sept. 10 to grant Oklahoma City Public Schools a one-year time variance allowing Taft Middle School to use existing first-floor corridors and restrooms as the district's "best available area of refuge" while construction continues on a compliant ICC 500 storm shelter.
The variance covers the period after occupancy of phase 1 and extends through the 2026–2027 school year, with the board recording a target of an ICC 500–compliant storm shelter by 2027.
The request came from district representatives and the school's architects, who said the school will have a reduced student population during the construction phase. Tori Butzer of Butzer Architects and Evan Sack (architects for OKCPS) said the district will cap enrollment related to the construction phasing; they told the board that sixth-through-eighth grade enrollment before work began was 841 students, would be 541 after phase 1 completion, and that current on-campus enrollment was near 579 due to grade relocations. The architects said staff would number about 36 when phase 1 is occupied.
Nut graf: The variance permits continued use of historically used interior spaces as temporary shelter in severe weather even though those spaces do not meet ICC 500 storm-shelter standards for new construction. The board balanced the district's staging and occupancy plans, the building's age and existing practice, and input from city staff and the fire marshal in setting a one-year limit and requiring completion of a compliant shelter by 2027.
Board members and city staff reviewed documentation the district supplied: an updated "best available area of refuge" plan mapping the corridors and restrooms to be used, the district's emergency action plan, its severe-weather policy, and a current construction schedule. District safety staff said the district used a FEMA checklist and an architectural assessment done in 2018 to identify best-available refuge areas across district schools and that copies of those reports could be provided to the board.
City staff repeatedly noted that the building code supplement to the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Existing Building Code (IEBC) generally require storm shelters when new educational occupancy or additions create changed conditions and that ICC 500 shelter requirements apply to new construction. Scott (city staff) summarized the city's position that the project, as proposed, would not meet the letter of the unlimited-area and shelter provisions unless a compliant shelter is in place at occupancy.
Mike Wilson of the fire marshal's office told the board that while the corridors do not meet ICC 500 criteria, the office understood the realities of phased construction and said, given the limited one-year period and the district's ability to concentrate students in interior hallways that have historically been used for sheltering, the office recommended granting a time-limited variance.
Board discussion and motions: At the first vote on the district's appeal the board split, producing a 3–3 tie and a failed motion because the board’s bylaws require four concurring votes. After a successful motion to reconsider, a subsequent motion to grant the variance for one school year (through the 2026–2027 school year) carried 4–2. The board recorded the basis for the variance as the applicant's information and the city's replies presented at the hearing, and tied the time limit to the district's construction schedule and the stated target for a compliant shelter in 2027.
The board's decision did not require the district to use the basement shelter; district officials said the basement remains available but raised accessibility concerns for that space during construction. The district said the corridors being approved for temporary use have been used historically as shelter space for more than a decade.
Ending: The variance allows Taft Middle School to continue shelter-in-place procedures using the mapped corridors and restrooms for the coming school year while the district completes the second-phase shelter work. Board staff and the district indicated they will document required findings and any conditions in the written order accompanying the variance.
