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Commission asks staff to agendize review of San Gabriel's fire-sprinkler threshold for remodels
Summary
A commissioner asked the Planning Commission to consider whether the city's current fire-sprinkler trigger (remodels or additions exceeding 25% or over 4,000 sq ft) imposes unintended burdens on homeowners; the commission agreed to agendize a staff-led review and recommended sending the topic to Council if warranted.
During the commissioners' reports portion of the Feb. 9 meeting, Chair Kratman raised a request to study the city's application of its fire-sprinkler requirement (the provision cited in the discussion was printed as section 903.2 in the packet). Kratman told colleagues that the code, as currently interpreted, can require a homeowner to sprinkler an entire house after a relatively small interior remodel and gave a cost example to illustrate the effect.
"For instance, if you have a 1,000 square foot home and 250 square feet of that are the combined size of your kitchen and dining room, and you remove a screen wall between the two... now you have to fire sprinkler your whole house, which is a pretty significant expense," Kratman said, adding that a homeowner could face a sprinkler-system cost "at least" on the order of $15,000 for what otherwise would be a modest interior change.
Kratman compared San Gabriel's 25% threshold to other municipalities, saying Pasadena applies a 40% threshold for improvements and San Marino 50%. Several commissioners expressed support for studying whether the city's interpretation or the code itself should be revised to reduce unintended burdens on remodels.
Action and next step: Commissioners agreed by consensus that staff should prepare a layperson's summary of the current code, relevant state fire and building code constraints, and options for modifying the local threshold. The commission recorded consensus to agendize the topic for a future meeting and asked staff to coordinate with the Fire Department and Public Works as appropriate.
