Code board denies sprinkler exemption for three Capitol Hill quadplex renovation projects

Oklahoma City's Building and Fire Code Board of Appeals voted unanimously Wednesday to deny three related appeals from Trey Maston, who sought to renovate three Capitol Hill quadplexes without adding automatic fire suppression systems by relying on the performance compliance method in Chapter 13 of the 2018 International Existing Building Code (IEBC).

The appeals concerned whether the city's local amendment to the IEBC (local supplement section 302.7) requires automatic sprinklers for the scope of work proposed at 3809 South Hudson Avenue, 400 Southwest Grand Boulevard and 404 Southwest Grand Boulevard, or whether Maston's projects could proceed under Chapter 13's scoring-based performance compliance method.

The dispute turned on a city amendment to section 1301.2 (as adopted into local code) that references compliance with "chapter 13 or the provisions of chapter 3 through 12." City staff and the fire marshal said that amendment was intended to keep Chapter 3's cross-cutting provisions (including the local sprinkler supplement, 302.7) applicable to all compliance methods; the applicant said the plain language of the amendment preserves…