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Pennsylvania Court Upholds Fire Sprinkler Decision
The Pennsylvania Builders Association (PBA) praised a Sept. 6 ruling by the Commonwealth Court to uphold a lower court decision disapproving a local fire sprinkler ordinance.
The ordinance, enacted by Schuylkill Township in Chester County, would have required the installation of fire sprinklers in all new construction and in all structural alterations of 1,000 square feet or more. It was disapproved by the Chester County Court of Common Pleas in a ruling filed Aug. 29, 2006.
“Consumers are the big winners because this ruling helps hold down the cost of new homes by preventing a government mandate requiring fire sprinklers in new residential construction,” said PBA President Steve Black. Consumers still have the option to install fire sprinklers if they so choose, he pointed out.
The ruling also bolsters Pennsylvania’s Uniform Construction Code, Black said, adding weight to the requirement that clear and convincing local conditions be proven for a local government to exceed building requirements in the UCC. Some local governments were claiming local conditions that, in fact, were conditions common across the state, he said.
To justify requiring residential fire sprinklers, Schuylkill Township officials had argued that it needed them more than other parts of the state because of the area’s traffic congestion, steep roadways along neighboring Valley Forge Mountain and a decline in the ranks of local volunteer fire fighters.
But the Court of Common Pleas disagreed. “In passing the [Pennsylvania Construction Code] Act, the legislature chose not to mandate the use of automatic sprinkler systems in buildings across the commonwealth,” the decision said. “If general or widespread conditions are sufficient to justify an exemption to the act, then the legislature would have mandated the use of automatic sprinkler systems and not made their use subject to a finding of a need for exemption.”
The Commonwealth Court upheld this decision in its Sept. 6 ruling.
“The code ensures the quality and safety of new home construction in Pennsylvania. If needless variances to the code are granted to various localities, the advantages of having a single building code for everyone will be lost. Plus, public tax dollars are wasted when local governments expend time and resources to develop unnecessary local building ordinances,” Black said.
“We want the public to understand that we are not opposed to the installation of fire sprinklers in homes. We do, however, oppose a government mandate requiring sprinklers. Since sprinklers would add to a home's cost, we strongly feel this decision should be left as an option for consumers.”
For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132.
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