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ORDINANCE 1100ORDINANCE NO. 1100 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER 17.06 TO TITLE 17 (FIRE PREVENTION) OF THE EL SEGUNDO MUNICIPAL CODE, WHICH CHAPTER RELATES TO LIFE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR EXISTING HIGH -RISE BUILDINGS. THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Chapter 17.06 is hereby added to Title 17 (Fire Prevention) of the El Segundo Municipal Code to read as follows: CHAPTER 17.06 LIFE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS FOR EXISTING HIGH- RISE BUILDINGS. A. GENERAL (1) Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a reasonable degree of safety to persons occupying existing high - rise buildings by requiring minimum standards for exit corridors, exit stairways and elevator shafts, monitored alarm systems and emergency plans. (2) Scope. The requirements shall apply to all high -rise buildings constructed prior to the adoption date of this chapter which have floors used for human occupancy located more than 75 feet above the lowest level of approved fire department vehicle access or other physical configuration that qualifies a building as high -rise by local ordinance. (3) Permits Required. (a) Building permits shall be obtained as required by the Building Code. (b) Not less than 30 days prior to submitting plans for a building permit, a preplan review meeting shall be held, including the owner's design team, Building Official and the Fire Chief, to determine the adequacy of the life - safety emergency concept for the building. The life - safety emergency systems shall be reflected on the plans for the building and become a permanent part of the Building Department's records. The Building Official and the Fire Chief may require sufficient -1- 40787 -O.F documentation, based upon engineering analysis, that the concept meets the intent of nationally recognized good practices and such guidelines as the Building Official and Fire Chief have published. (4) Enforcement. The provisions of this chapter shall be enforced by the Fire Chief and Building Official. Within six months after the adoption of this chapter, high -rise building owners shall survey such buildings, for compliance to Chapter 17.06 B, and submit a report of compliance to the Fire Department. The Fire Department shall review the report and either agree or disagree in a written response. The Fire Department shall issue a notice of noncompliance to the building owner if the provisions of this chapter are not met. (5) Compliance. All buildings shall be made to conform with the requirements of Section B hereof within the following time periods: (a) Subsections 11, 12 and 13, shall be completed within six months of the notice of noncompliance. (b) The owners or their representatives of buildings affected by this chapter shall submit a conceptual plan to the Building Official for Fire Department and Building Department approval, showing intended methods of compliance with Subsections 1 through 10, of Section B, within six months of the notice of noncompliance. (c) Subsections 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, of Section B, shall be completed within one year of the notice of noncompliance. (d) Subsections 1, 2, 3, and 4, of Section B, shall be completed within five years of the notice of noncompliance. NOTE: Regardless of any specific compliance date stipulated above, a building shall not be deemed in violation of this chapter until such date has expired. (e) If the option of full sprinkler protection established in Section C is selected by the owner, a compliance period of nine years after notice of noncompliance is permitted. Within the first one -third of this period, the fire pump and risers -2- 40787 -O.F shall be installed and a schedule for sprinkler installation shall be developed and submitted through the Building Department for review and approval by the Fire Chief and Building Official. (6) Alternate Materials or Methods. Deviations shall not be made from these requirements without approval of the Fire Chief and Building Official. (7) Appeals. For the purpose of applying this chapter to existing buildings of diverse design, appeals for alternate materials or methods may be directed to the City Council. This Council shall have the authority to hear appeals and grant necessary deviation from this chapter as follows: (a) Allow alternate materials or methods of compliance if such alternate materials or methods of compliance will provide levels of fire and life safety equal to or greater than those specifically set forth in this chapter. (b) Waive specific individual requirements of this chapter if it can be shown that such requirements are not physically possible or practical. The financial cost of compliance shall not be the sole basis for waiving any specific requirement. (c) Grant necessary extension of time where it can be shown that the specific time periods are not physically practical or pose an undue hardship. The Council shall not grant an extension of time for compliance to any building owner who cannot demonstrate intent and effort to comply. (8) Penalty. Failure to comply with Subsection 5 above is unlawful and any person, firm or corporation, whether as principal, agent, employee or otherwise, violating any provisions of the above requirements shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Such person, firm or corporation is guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of these requirements is committed, continued or permitted by such person, firm or corporation. -3- 40787 -O.F (9) Severability. Should any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter be declared unconstitutional or invalid for any reason, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of these requirements. B. REQUIREMENTS. (1) Automatic Sprinklers. All required exit corridors, stairwells, elevator lobbies, public assembly areas having a calculated occupant load of 100 or more persons, commercial kitchens and such other areas designated by the Fire Chief shall be protected by an approved automatic sprinkler system. A minimum of one sprinkler head shall be provided on the room side of every corridor opening. EXCEPTION: Upon approval of the Fire Chief, sprinkler heads may be eliminated in stair shafts where all construction therein is noncombustible. (2) Corridor Doors. All doors opening into required exit corridors shall be in conformance with the Building Code. EXCEPTIONS: (a) Existing 1 -3/8 inch bonded, solid -core doors, if equipped with self - closures and gaskets, need not be replaced; (b) doors need not be upgraded if the building is fully sprinklered. (3) Corridor Openings. All openings into required exit corridors, other than doors, shall be in conformance with the Building Code. EXCEPTION: Openings need not be upgraded in fully sprinklered buildings. (4) Exit Stairways. All high -rise buildings shall have a minimum of two approved exit stairways. (5) Exit Stairwell Doors. Stairway doors which are to be locked from the stairway side shall have the capability to be unlocked simultaneously without unlatching, upon a signal from an approved location. -4- 40787 -O.F (6) Elevator Lobby Separation. All elevators on all floors shall open into elevator lobbies which are separated from the remainder of the building as is required for corridor construction in the Building Code. EXCEPTIONS: (a) Main entry lobby. (b) In buildings built prior to January 1, 1974, elevator lobbies need not be separated on any individual floor unless or until that floor is remodeled. Remodeled shall mean any remodel of the elevator lobby or any remodel that involves the exit system or affects more than 50% of the total floor area (7) Elevator Recall. All automatic elevators shall be equipped with an approved automatic elevator recall system. (8) Fire Alarm Systems. (a) All high -rise buildings shall have an alarm system meeting the requirements of this section. All required fire alarm systems shall be designed to be heard clearly by all occupants within the building, but in no case shall it be less than 60db or 15db above ambient noise levels, as measured in the A scale, within all occupiable areas of the building. All required alarm systems shall operate automatically by smoke or products of combustion detectors and by manual pull stations as approved by the chief. (b) In fully sprinklered buildings, the alarm system shall be required to operate by manual pull stations and automatically only by waterflow detection. Staged evacuation is permissible if approved by the Fire Chief. (9) Fire Alarm Supervision. (a) All fire alarm systems shall be connected to an approved central station or the local Fire Department dispatch office in conformance with the Fire Code as approved by the Fire Chief. -5- 40787 -O.F (b) In fully sprinklered buildings, the sprinkler system shall be fully supervised. Sprinkler systems shall be zoned on a floor -by -floor basis. (10) Exit Illumination. Exits shall be illuminated at any time the building is occupied with lights having an intensity of not less than 1 footcandle at floor level. Such lighting shall have an independent alternate source of supply such as an emergency battery pack. (11) Emergency Plan. The management for all buildings shall establish and maintain a written fire and life- safety emergency plan which has been approved by the Fire Chief. The Fire Chief shall develop written criteria and guidelines upon which all plans shall be based. (12) Posting of Emergency Plan and Exit Plans. Copies of the emergency plan and exiting plans (including elevator and stairway placarding) shall be posted in locations approved by the Fire Chief. (13) Fire Drills. The management of all buildings shall conduct fire drills for their staff and employees at least annually. The Fire Department must be advised of such drills at least 24 hours in advance. A written record of each drill shall be maintained in the building management office and made available to the Fire Department for review. C. FULLY SPRINKLERED BUILDINGS. The owner of any building may elect to fully sprinkler such building in accordance with National Fire Protection Association Pamphlet 13. In the event that the owner makes such election, the exceptions set forth in Section B hereof shall be applicable. The exceptions contained herein shall only apply to upgrades of legally existing conditions and shall not be deemed to allow elimination of building features that were required by codes in effect at the time the building was constructed. -6- 40787 -O.F SECTION 2. This ordinance shall become effective at midnight on the thirtieth day from and after the final passage and adoption hereof. SECTION 3. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this ordinance; shall cause the same to be entered in the book of original ordinances of said city; shall make a minute of the passage and adoption thereof in the records of the meeting at which the same is passed and adopted; and shall within fifteen days after the passage and adoption thereof, cause the same to be published once in the E1 Segundo Herald, a weekly newspaper of general circulation, published and circulated within said City of El Segundo and which is hereby designated for that purpose. PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED this 5th day of May, 1987. ( SEAL) A 46 M Pro em Ci y of E1 Segundo, California -7- 40787 -0.F STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) SS CITY OF EL SEGUNDO ) I, Ronald L. Hart, City Clerk of the City of E1 Segundo, California, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the whole number of members of the City Council of the said City is five; that the foregoing ordinance, being Ordinance No. 1100 is a full, true and correct original of Ordinance No. 1100 of the said City of E1 Segundo, California, entitled: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER 17.06 TO TITLE 17 (FIRE PREVENTION) OF THE EL SEGUNDO MUNICIPAL CODE, WHICH CHAPTER RELATES TO LIFE SAFTEY REQUIREMENTS FOR EXISTING HIGH -RISE BUILDINGS. which was duly passed and adopted by the said City Council, approved and signed by the Mayor of said City, and attested by the City Clerk of said City, all at a regular meeting of the said Council held on the 5th day of May, 1987, and that the same was so passed and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Councilmembers Anderson, Jacobson, Schuldt, West, and Mayor Siadek NOES: None ABSENT: None I do hereby further certify that pursuant to the provisions of Section 36933 of the Government Code of the State of California, that the foregoing Ordinance No. 1100 was dully and regularly published according to law and the order of the City Council of said City in the E1 Segundo Herald, a weekly newspaper of general circulation, printed, published and circulated within said City and that the same was so published therein on the following date, to wit: Mav 14. 1987. ov* City Clerk of the City of E1 Segundo, California (SEAL)