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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-054firecode 94 ORDINANCE NO R Q,t AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 29 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADOPTION OF THE UNIFORM FIRE CODE, 1994 EDITION, PROVIDING FOR AMENDMENTS THERETO, RE- ESTABLISHING PERMIT FEES, PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,000 FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF, PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT THEREWITH, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY ORDAINS SECTION I That Article I of Chapter 29 of the Code of Ordinances is amended to read as follows ARTICLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS Section 29-1. Uniform Fire Code -- Adopted. There is hereby adopted by the City of Denton, Texas for the purpose of prescribing regulations governing conditions hazardous to life and property from fire and explosion, that certain Codes and Standards known as the Uniform Fire Code, including Appendices I-C, II -A, II-B, II-C, II-D, II-F, II-G, II-H, III-C, III-D, IV -A, IV-B, V-A, VI -A, VI-B and VI-E, and the Uniform Fire Code Stan- dards, published by the International Fire Code Institute and International Conference of Building Officials, being particularly the 1994 editions thereof and whole thereof, save and except such portions as are hereinafter deleted, modified or amended by Section 29-2 of this ordinance A copy of said Fire Code and Standards is now filed in the office of the City Secretary, and is hereby adopted and incorporated as fully as if set out at length herein, and from the date on which this ordinance shall take effect, the provisions thereof shall be controlling within the limits of the City of Denton and within 5,000 feet thereof, where specified therein Section 29-2. Amendments. The Uniform Fire Code, as adopted in Section 29-1, is hereby amended as follows A By the deletion of the following sections in their entirety Sec 103 2 2, Fire Prevention Bureau Sec 103 2 2 1, Fire Prevention Engineer or Fire Marshal B By the amendment of the Uniform Fire Code as follows 1 Section 101 5, entitled Liability, is amended by adding a third paragraph to read as follows All regulations provided in this Code are hereby declared to be governmental and for the benefit of the general public Any member of the City Council, any city official or employ- ee, or any member of the Building Code Board charged with the enforcement of this code, acting for the City in the discharge of his duties, shall not thereby render himself personally liable, and he is hereby relieved from all personal liability for any damage that may occur to persons or property as a result of any action required or permitted in the discharge of his duties Any suit brought against such official or employee because of such act performed by him in the enforcement of any provisions of this Code shall be repre- sented by the City of Denton through its designated attorney until the final adjudica- tion of the proceedings 2 Section 103 4 5, entitled Inspections and Unsafe Buildings is amended by changing the last sentence to read as follows All such unsafe buildings are hereby declared to be public nuisances and shall be abated by repair, rehabilitation, demolition or removal in accordance with the procedures specified in the Minimum Housing and Building Standards contained within Chapter 28 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton, Texas 3 Section 103 1 4, entitled Appeals, is amended to read as follows 103.1.4 Board of Appeals. In order to deter- mine the suitability of alternate materials and types of construction and to provide for reasonable interpretations of the provisions of this Code, the Building Code Board as created and organized under Chapter 28 of the Code of Ordinances shall pass upon all perti- nent matters Whenever the Fire Marshal disapproves an application or refuses a permit applied for, or whenever it is claimed that PAGE 2 the provisions of the Code do not apply or that the true intent or meaning of the Code have been wrongly misconstrued or wrongly interpreted, the applicant may appeal from the decision of the Fire Marshal to said Board within thirty (30) days from the date of the decision appealed In addition to such Board, the Fire Marshal may request the additional members be appoint- ed for specific rulings or interpretations Such members shall be voting, ex-officio members and appointed by the Chairman of the Building Code Board to assist in the determi- nation and/or ruling of a specific issue or case Such appointments shall be temporary until the ruling is rendered No more than two (2) members shall be appointed, each having experience in the matter of question The Board shall adopt reasonable rules and regulations for conducting this investigation and shall render all decisions and finding in writing to the Fire marshal with duplicate copy to the appellant and may recommend to the City Council such new legislation as is con- sistent therewith 4 Section 103 4 4, entitled Citations, is amended to read as follows 103.4.4 Citations. Any person operating or maintaining any occupancy, premises or vehicle subject to this Code who shall permit any fire hazard to exist on the premises under their control or who shall fail to take immediate action to abate a fire hazard when ordered or notified to do so by the chief or his duly authorized representative shall be guilty of a separate offense for each and every day or portion thereof which any violation of any of the provisions of this Code is committed or continued A person convicted of violation of any provision of this Code shall be guilty of an offense punishable by a fine not to exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000) 5 Section 105 S, entitled Permit Required, is amended to read as follows PAGE 3 105.8 Permit Required. A permit shall be obtained from the Fire Marshal prior to engag- ing in the following activities, operations, practices or functions a 1 Automatic Fire Alarm Systems, Auto- matic Fire Extinguishing Systems and Standpipe Systems. To install, con- struct, modify or alter any automatic fire alarm system, automatic fire extin- guishing system or standpipe system, provided however that the permit required herein shall not apply to the installa- tion of single -station smoke detectors in R-1 and R-3 occupancies b 1 Bowling pin or alley refinishing. To conduct a bowling pin refinishing or bowling alley resurfacing operation in- volving the use and application of flam- mable liquids or materials See Article 26 c 1 Candles and open flames in assembly areas. To use open flames or candles in connection with assembly areas, dining areas of restaurants or drinking estab- lishments For definition of ASSEMBLY, see Article 2 See Article 25 for open flames and candles c 2 Carnivals and fairs. To conduct a carnival or fair See Article 25 The chief is authorized to require plans of the grounds to be submitted e 1 Explosives and Blasting Agents. For permits for explosives or blasting agents, see Article 77 f 1 Fire hydrants and water -control valves. To use a fire hydrant to operate a water -control valve intended for fire - suppression purposes, see Article 9 f 2 Fireworks. For permits for fire- works, see Article 78 f 3 Flammable or combustible liquids. See Article 79 PAGE 4 I To use or operate, repair or modify a pipeline for the transpor- tation of flammable or combustible liquids 2 To store, use or handle Class I liquids in excess of 5 gallons or in a building or in excess of 10 gal- lons outside of building, except that a permit is not required for the following 2 1 The storage or use of Class I liquids in the fuel tank of motor vehicles, aircraft, motor boats, mobile power plants or mobile heating equipment, un- less such storage, in the opin- ion of the chief, would cause an unsafe condition 2 2 The storage or use of paints, oils, varnishes or similar flammable mixtures when such liquids are stored for mainte- nance, painting or similar pur- poses for a period of not more than 30 days 3 To store, handle or use Class II or Class III -A liquids in excess of 25 gallons in a building or in ex- cess of 60 gallons outside of a building, except for fuel oil used in connection with oil -burning equi- pment 4 To remove Class I or II liquids from an underground storage tank used for fueling motor vehicles by any means other than approved, sta- tionary on -site pumps normally used for dispensing purposes 5 To install, construct, alter or operate tank vehicles, equipment, tanks, plants, terminals, wells, fuel -dispensing stations, refineries distilleries and similar facilities where flammable and combustible PAGE 5 liquids are produced, processed, transported, stored, dispensed or used 6 To install, alter, remove, aban- don, place temporarily out of ser- vice or otherwise dispose of flamma- ble or combustible liquids 7 To change the type of contents stored in a flammable or combustible liquid tank to a material other than that for which the tank was designed and constructed h 1 Hazardous Materials. To store, transport on site, dispense, use or han- dle hazardous materials in excess of the amounts listed in Table 105-C or to in- stall, repair, abandon, remove, place temporarily out of service, close or substantially modify a storage facility or other area regulated by Article 80 when the hazardous materials in use or storage exceed the amounts listed in Table 105 C h 2 Hazardous production materials. To store, handle or use hazardous production material in a Group H, Division 6 Occu- pancy See Article 51 h 3 High -piled combustible stock. To use any building or portion thereof exceeding 500 square feet for high -piled combusti- ble storage A floor plan showing the dimensions and location of stock piles and aisles shall be submitted with the applications for such permits See Arti- cle 81 1 2 Liquid- or gas -fueled vehicles or equipment in assembly buildings To display, compete or demonstrate liquid - or gas -fueled vehicles in assembly build- ings See Article 25 m 2 Mall, Covered. See Article 35 To use a covered mall in the following man- ner PAGE 6 A Placing or constructing temporary kiosks, display booths, concession equipment or the like in the mall B To use a mall as a place of assem- bly C To use open -flame or flame -producing appliances D To display any liquid- or gas -fueled equipment o 1 Open burning. To conduct open burning Where burning is conducted on public property or the property of some- one other than the permit applicant, the permit applicant shall demonstrate that permission has been obtained from each appropriate government agency, as well as the owner or the owner's authorized agent When limits for atmospheric con- ditions or hours restrict burning, such limits shall be designated in the permit restrictions See Section 1102 3 p 1 Pyrotechnical special effects mate- rial. For permits for pyrotechnical special effects material, see Article 78 s 1 Spraying or dipping. To conduct a spraying or dipping operation utilizing flammable or combustible liquids or the application of combustible powders by Article 45 t 1 Tents, canopies and temporary mem- brane structures. To erect or operate a tent or air supported membrane structure having an area in excess of 200 square feet, or a canopy in excess of 400 square feet, except for structures used exclu- sively for camping See Article 32 6 Sections 203, 204, 207 and 211 are amended to change the definitions of Fire Prevention Bureau, chief, and 3urisdiction amended to read as follows, all other definitions are to remain unchanged PAGE 7 BUREAU OF FIRE PREVENTION is the Office of the City Fire Marshal CHIEF is the City Fire Marshal JURISDICTION is the City of Denton, Texas 7 Section 902, entitled Fire Apparatus Access, is amended to read as follows 902 — FIRE DEPARTMENT ACCESS 902.1 General. Fire apparatus access roads shall be constructed in accordance with the provisions of article V of chapter 11 of the Code of Ordinances [the remainder of section 902 is deleted] 8 Section 1003 2, entitled Required Installations of Automatic Fire Extinguishing Systems, is amended to read as follows 1003.2 Required Installations of Automatic Fire Extinguishing Systems. An automatic fire -extinguishing system shall be installed and maintained in each occupancy as required by the provisions of section 904 of the Uni- form Building Code, as contained within divi- sion I of article II of Chapter 28 of the Code of Ordinances 9 Section 1004 1 1, entitled General, is amended to read as follows 1004.1.1 General. Standpipes shall comply with the requirements of section 904 5 1 of the Uniform Building Code, and the latest edition of NFPA 14 10 Section 7701 7 2, entitled Limits Established by Law , to read as follows 7701.7.2 Limits established by law. Explo- sive materials shall not be stored within the city limits of the City of Denton or within its extraterritorial ]urisdiction PAGE 8 11 Section 7802 3, entitled Prohibition, is amended to read as follows 7802.3 Prohibition. Except as provided otherwise herein, no person shall possess, store, offer for sale, expose for sale, sell at retail manufacture or use or explode any fireworks within the city limits or within five thousand feet thereof (a) A person may make use of fireworks for the purpose of a public fireworks display upon the issuance of, and in accordance with, a permit issued for such display pursuant to the provisions of article 5 43 of the Texas Insurance Code, as amended 12 Section 7902 2 7 1, entitled General, is amended to read as follows 7902.2.7.1 General. Storage of Class I and II liquids in aboveground tanks outside of buildings is prohibited outside of the limits of land use districts designated as Agricul- tural, Light Industrial District, Heavy Indus- trial District or Planned Development Dis- trict, as identified in Chapter 35 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton, Texas 13 Section 8204 2, entitled Maximum Capacity within Established Limits, is amended to read as follows 8204.2 Maximum Capacity within Established Limits. Within the limits of land use dis- tricts designated as Agricultural, Light Industrial District, Heavy Industrial District or Planned Development District, as identified within Chapter 35 Code of Ordinances of the City of Denton, Texas, the aggregate quantity of LP -Gas shall not exceed 150,000 gallons of LP -Gas (180,000 gallons of water capacity) The aggregate storage capacity of LP -Gas outside of these limits shall not exceed 2,000 gallons water capacity C. By the creation of the following new sections: Section 103 3 1 3, entitled Frequency of Inspec- tion, is created to read as follows PAGE 9 103.3.1.3 Frequency of Inspection. All owners of, occupants of, tenants of, lessees of or persons making use of any building or premises, or portions thereof, when used as nonresidential group occupancies, including hotels, lodging houses and congregate resi- dences, as defined by the Building Code, are required to have such buildings, premises or portions thereof inspected annually by the Fire Marshal or his designated representative Additionally, the Fire Marshal may initiate such inspections at such other times as he deems appropriate to satisfy the purposes of this ordinance, and may additionally inspect all other premises as may be necessary, in- cluding such other potential hazards or appli- ances as the chief may designate, for the purpose of ascertaining and causing to be corrected any condition which would reasonably tend to cause a fire or contribute to its spread, or which may constitute a violation of this ordinance or any other law or standard affecting fire safety 2 Section 106, entitled Fire Inspection and Permit Fees, is created to read as follows SECTION 106 — FIRE INSPECTION AND PERMIT FEES 106.1. Inspection Fees. Each inspection performed pursuant to Section 103 3 1 3 of this Code, as amended, shall be performed free of charge If the Fire Marshal or his desig- nee observes a violation of this chapter and performs a follow-up inspection to determine whether a violation or violations observed during the previous inspection have been corrected, a fee shall be charged, and the occupant or lessee shall pay said fee within 30 days of being billed therefor as condition to continue lawful occupancy of the building or dwelling to be inspected Said fee shall be based upon the amount of interior area of the building leased, occupied or used by the person The fee shall be in an amount estab- lished, and from time to time amended, by ordinance of the City Council, a copy of which shall be kept on file with the City Secretary Follow-up inspection fees for common areas of PAGE 10 such buildings or premises shall be charged to and paid by the owner in accordance with the area inspected 106.2. Permit and Permit Fees. Any permit required by Section 105 8 of the Code, as amended herein, or any permit required by subsection 106 3 thereof, shall be issued only upon payment of a permit fee in an amount established, and as from time to time amended, by ordinance of the City Council, a copy of which shall be kept on file with the City Secretary 106.3. Fire Protection Appliances and Sys- tems. In addition to the permits required by Section 105 8 of the Code, as amended herein, any person, company or business performing the following services shall be required to obtain an annual permit 1 Operation of a fire extinguisher sales and service company or business 2 Operation of a fire alarm sales and service company or business 3 operation of a fire extinguishing system company or business Such permits shall be issued upon proof that the applicant complies with all applicable requirements of state law, as amended from time to time 3 Section 904, entitled Required Fire Flow, is created to read as follows 904 1 Required Fire Flow. 1. When Required. Every development shall provide adequate water capacity for fire protection purposes Unless buildings in the development are provided with fire protection by means of an approved automatic sprinkler system Each development shall provide the minimum fire flow calculated at a minimum residual pressure of 20 PSI The required demand shall be in accordance with Table No 904 1-A PAGE 11 TABLE NO. 904.1-A REQUIRED FIRE FLOW DEMAND FOR DEVELOPMENTS Land Use Flow (GPM) High -intensity commercial and industrial 3,000 Medium -intensity commercial 1,500 Medium -intensity residential 750 Low -Intensity residential 500 2. Duration. The minimum duration for re- quired fire flow shall not be less than 2 hours 904.2. Automatic Sprinkler Protection. If sufficient water supplies exist to satisfy the sprinkler demand as calculated by the Insur- ance Service Office Fire Flow Formula (ISO FSRS, Section 1, subsection 310), as amended, the minimum water capacity required by Section 904 1-A 1 may be reduced by fifty percent, except that in no case shall the minimum capacity be reduced to less than 500 gallons per minute (GPM) SECTION II. Any person who violates a provision of this ordinance shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000) Each such person shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each and every day or portion thereof during which any violation of this ordinance is committed, or continued, and upon conviction of any such violations such person shall be punished within the limits above SECTION III. That the fees provided for in Section 106 of the Code adopted by this ordinance, originally adopted with the enactment of Ordinance No 87-196, shall be as follows PAGE 12 1 Building Fire Safety Follow -Up Inspection fees provided for in Section 106 Interior Square Footage Fee 1 to 3,000 $ 15 00 over 3,000 to 6,000 $ 25 00 over 6,000 to 12,000 $ 35 00 over 12,000 to 18,000 $ 45 00 over 18,000 to 24,000 $ 55 00 over 24,000 to 100,000 $ 65 00 over 100,000 $100 00 If a second follow-up inspection fee is required because the violation has not been corrected, the following fees shall be charged 1 to 3,000 $ 30 00 over 3,000 to 6,000 $ 50 00 over 6,000 to 12,000 $ 70 00 over 12,000 to 18,000 $ 90 00 over 18,000 to 24,000 $110 00 over 24,000 to 100,000 $130 00 over 100,000 $200 00 2 The fee for any permit required under Section 105 of the Fire Code, as amended, shall be $50 00 per permit, and $25 00 for each annual renewal, except as follows a There shall be paid a fee of $100 for the following permits 1 Any alteration to an existing tank (combusti- ble or flammable) 2 Outdoor burning, per day 3 Combustible or flammable liquid tank storage installation 4 Combustible or flammable liquid piping instal- lation 5 Removal of combustible or flammable liquid tank and or piping b There shall be paid a fee of $50 for the following 1 Permit to install an automatic extinguishing (hood) system PAGE 13 2 Acceptance inspection of automatic fire sprin- kler (overhead) system 3 Acceptance inspection of automatic fire sprin- kler (underground piping fire line) 4 Inspection of private fire lines and hydrants 3 A fee of $25 shall be assessed for each annual inspection of automatic extinguishing systems (hood systems) automatic fire suppression systems, and fire alarm systems This fee shall be payable by the owner or occupant 4 The permit fee for a temporary sales or display booth in covered malls shall be $25 5 A fee of $35 shall be assessed for each annual permit, as provided for in Section 106 3 SECTION IV. If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, phrase or word in this ordinance, or application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance, and City Council of the City of Denton, Texas hereby declares it would have enacted such remaining portions despite any such invalidity SECTION V. That the repeal of any ordinance or any portion thereof by the preceding sections shall not affect or impair any act done or right vested or accrued or any proceeding, suit or prosecution had or commenced in any cause before such repeal shall take effect, but every such act done, or right vested or accrued, or proceedings, suit or prosecution had or commenced shall remain in full force and effect to all intents or purposes as if such ordinance or part thereof so repealed shall remain in force SECTION VI. That this ordinance shall become effective fourteen (14) days from the date of this passage, and the City Secretary is hereby directed to cause the caption of this ordinance to be published twice in the Denton Record -Chronicle, the official newspaper of the City of Denton, Texas, within ten (10) days of the date of its passage PASSED AND APPROVED this the X_ day of 1997 JA�lI MILLER, MAYOR PAGE 14 ATTEST JENNIFER WALTERS, CITY SECRETARY HERBERT AS TO LEGAL FORM L '_-PReU77 7 ATTORNEY PAGE 15