AGENDA #5b
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Report on Status of Compliance with Fire Sprinkler Requirements in Greek Housing
DATE: October 23, 2000
The purpose of this memorandum is to report the status of fraternity and sorority house compliance with the requirement that be fully protected by a fire sprinkler system by September 12, 2001.
On May 12, 1996, there was a tragic fire in the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house that took five lives and injured three other persons. The post-fire investigation revealed that the fire started in a trash can, probably from discarded smoking materials. It was also determined that the presence of a fire sprinkler system would have controlled the fire at its earliest stage, preventing the deaths and injuries.
On September 12, 1996, the Town Council enacted an ordinance requiring that all fraternity and sorority houses shall have a fire sprinkler system installed within five years. The measure was supported by the University, and many of the fraternity and sorority houses began the process of adding the systems to their existing houses in order to comply.
Chapter 7, Article II, Division 4 of the Town Code (copy attached) requires compliance for installation of automatic sprinkler systems in fraternity and sorority houses within five years of the effective date. At this point, fraternities and sororities not in compliance have slightly less than one year to comply. Recently the Fire Department sent a letter to those houses not already in compliance to remind them that they are now within the one-year deadline.
Currently twenty-two (22) houses have completed installation of an automatic sprinkler system and/or undergone major renovation that included the addition of a sprinkler system. Most of the remaining houses are in the process of renovation, have fairly definite plans for renovation or, as in the case of two houses on Big Fraternity Court, are waiting on a final waterline connection to provide water to sprinkler systems already in place. Please see the attached spreadsheet for a detailed list of all fraternities and sororities and current status on sprinkler system installation, along with other fire safety features.
There are still a few houses that do not have firm plans for either renovation or installation of a sprinkler system. These include Pi Kappa Alpha, St. Anthony Hall, and Delta Upsilon. At the time the ordinance requiring a sprinkler system in these occupancies went into effect, the direction was given to revoke certificates of occupancy and close houses not in compliance as of September 12, 2001. This position has been maintained by the Fire Department in communicating with representatives of Greek housing and the University.
We are pleased that so many of the fraternity and sorority houses have met the new requirements or are scheduled to do so by the time limit set by the Council. We believe that the five-year compliance period established by the Council in Sec. 7-42 of the Ordinance enacted in 1996 continues to be reasonable as well as necessary to achieve the life safety objectives of the Ordinance. The Fire Department continues to work with the individual Greek houses and the UNC Office of Greek Affairs to encourage and advise houses not yet in full compliance with the fire sprinkler ordinance.
Therefore, we will continue to expect all fraternity and sorority houses to meet the deadline established by the Town Council. We expect to proceed with the steps indicated in 1996 if there remain, in September 2001, any fraternity or sorority houses that have not complied with the Town’s sprinkler ordinance. If there were such houses we would notify them that their certificates of occupancy were revoked and, if the houses were not then immediately vacated, we would promptly initiate legal action to require that they be vacated.
We will provide a copy of this report to all fraternities and sororities that have not complied with the fire sprinkler requirement and will continue to monitor their progress in getting the systems installed. We will report back to the Council in September of 2001 on the status of compliance of all the houses.
1. September 25, 2000 Letter to non-compliant Greek houses (p. 3)
2. Spreadsheet of Greek Housing current fire safety features (p. 5)
3. Article II, Division 4, Chapter 7 of the Town Code (p. 8)