[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City
of New Rochelle 1-17-1995 by L.L. No. 4-1995. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
This chapter shall apply to all parts of the
City of New Rochelle.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A sprinkler system designed to the specifications of the
National Fire Protection Association and reviewed by the Building
Official of the City of New Rochelle and/or the Fire Commissioner
of the City of New Rochelle, which approval shall have been obtained
prior to installation of this system. Such system, to be approved,
shall meet all standards of installation and operation as prescribed
by the National Fire Protection Association and the manufacturer of
the system. Any such installation and the operation thereof shall
also be subject to the approval of the Building Official of the City
of New Rochelle and the Fire Commissioner of the City of New Rochelle.
The Building Official of the City of New Rochelle or any
other representative duly authorized and designated to perform his
or her duties.
The Fire Commissioner of the City of New Rochelle or any
other representative duly authorized and designated to perform his
or her duties.
All classifications of buildings listed below
which are constructed after the effective date of this chapter shall
be required to have approved sprinkler systems installed and operational.
A.
Multiple dwellings, for the purpose of this code,
shall be classified in respect to the permanent or transient character
of their occupancy groups and to the number and physical condition
of the occupants. The classification shall be in accordance with the
following groups:
(1)
Group B1, permanent occupancy:
(3)
Group B3, senior citizens: persons primarily 62 years
or more who are in good physical condition and do not require physical
assistance.
(4)
Group B4, adult residential care facility: buildings
for infirm adults who require personal care, supervision and services.
B.
General building construction. General building construction,
for the purpose of this code, shall be classified in groups in respect
to the occupancy or use. The classification shall be in accordance
with the following groups:
(1)
Group C1, business: buildings in which the primary
or intended occupancy or use is the transaction of administrative,
business, civic or professional service and where the handling of
goods, wares or merchandise, in limited quantities, is incidental
to the primary occupancy or use. Newsstands, lunch counters, barbershops,
beauty parlors and similar service facilities are considered as incidental
occupancies or uses.
(2)
Group C2, mercantile: buildings in which the primary
or intended occupancy or use is the display and sale to the public
of goods, wares or merchandise.
(3)
Group C3, industrial: buildings in which the primary
or intended occupancy or use is the manufacture or processing of products
of all kinds, including operations such as making, altering, assembling,
bottling, canning, finishing, handling, mixing, packaging, repairing,
cleaning, laundering and similar operations.
(4)
Group C4, storage: buildings in which the primary
or intended occupancy or use is the storage of, or shelter for, goods,
merchandise, products, vehicles or animals.
(5)
Group C5, assembly: buildings in which the primary
or intended occupancy or use is the assembly for amusement, athletic,
civic, dining, educational, entertainment, patriotic, political, recreational,
religious, social, sports or similar purposes, subclassified as follows:
(a)
Group C5.1: for not more than 300 persons.
(b)
Group C5.2: for more than 300 but not more than
1,000 persons.
(c)
Group C5.3: for more than 1,000 persons.
(d)
Group C5.4: churches, synagogues, mosques and
similar places of worship.
(e)
Group C5.5: schools, colleges and similar places
of education.
(6)
Group C6, institutional: buildings in which the primary
or intended occupancy or use is for persons domiciled or detained
under supervision, subclassified as follows:
(a)
Group C6.1: for persons whose movements are
not limited and who have a normal sense of perception.
(b)
Group C6.2: for persons whose movements are
limited because of illness or physical or mental handicap, including
community residences as defined in Section 606.3 of this code.[2]
(c)
Group C6.3: for persons detained or confined
in a mental hospital or for correctional or penal purposes.
(7)
Group C7, miscellaneous: nonresidential buildings
or structures in which the primary or intended occupancy or use is
not included in Groups C1 to C6, inclusive.
A building listed in § 279-3 hereinabove which is existing on the effective date of this chapter shall comply with this chapter when said building is reconstructed, remodeled or enlarged to the extent that the floor area is increased by 30%. A change of occupancy to a greater hazard shall require the fire area to be sprinklered.
[Amended 3-15-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-34]
A.
The installation,
components, sizing, spacing, location, clearances, position and type
of systems shall be in accordance with the approved plans. All changes
shall be submitted on shop drawings for approval before installation.
B.
Car stackers/lift
systems.
(1)
The
sprinkler design criteria for car stackers/lift systems must extend
15 feet into adjacent areas that do not contain car stackers/lift
systems.
(2)
Any
building containing car stackers/lift systems with a single-lift platform
shall be protected by an automatic sprinkler system designed to Extra
Hazard (Group 2) for a maximum of two cars stacked vertically in the
same location. In addition, nonextended coverage standard-response
sidewall sprinklers listed for Ordinary Hazard Group 2 shall be acceptable
for use under the lift platform. Each sidewall sprinkler shall cover
an area of 80 square feet or less, with a minimum of two heads per
car. The hydraulic calculation design criteria shall include all ceiling-level
sprinklers within a minimum 2,500-square-foot area of sprinkler operation,
or the maximum area containing car stackers/lift systems extending
15 feet into adjacent areas that do not contain car stackers/lift
systems. Sidewall sprinklers under the lift platforms are not required
to be included in the area of sprinkler operation.
(3)
For
low-rise buildings, if the City water main cannot provide the required
flow at a residual pressure of 20 psi, a fire pump must be provided.
The capacity of the pump shall meet the above requirements and the
requirements in the currently adopted editions of NFPA 13 and 14.
(4)
Parking
drive aisles or other areas with loft or columnless car stacking/lift
platforms shall follow all of the design criteria outlined above.
No device, valve, pipe or fitting may be used
in a sprinkler system unless such device, valve, pipe or fitting is
of a type approved for such use.
Every new system and every part of an existing
system that is altered, extended, renovated or repaired, except for
ordinary repairs, shall comply with applicable provisions of this
section.
A.
Notification. Advance notification of tests and inspections
required by this section shall be given to the Fire Commissioner of
the City of New Rochelle 24 hours beforehand.
B.
Representation at test. Tests required by this section
shall be conducted in the presence of the Fire Commissioner or his
or her representative.
C.
Testing equipment required. All equipment, material
and labor required for testing a system or any part thereof shall
be furnished by and at the expense of the person responsible for installing
the work.
D.
Testing of system. Systems may be tested in sections
or parts with permission of the Fire Commissioner.
E.
Acceptance. Before the acceptance of such system,
each system shall be subjected to any tests required by the Fire Commissioner
of the City of New Rochelle which are in accordance with the standards
of the National Fire Protection Association.
No building permit shall be issued for the construction of any new building, structure or portion thereof, nor for the reconstruction, remodeling or enlargement of any existing building described in § 279-4 hereof, required to have an approved sprinkler system pursuant to this chapter unless an approved sprinkler system is included in the plans for such construction submitted for the building permit.
No certificate of occupancy shall be issued
for occupancy or use of any building, structure or portion thereof
required to have an approved sprinkler system unless such system is
installed, inspected, tested and approved to the satisfaction of the
Building Official of the City of New Rochelle and Fire Commissioner
of the City of New Rochelle.
Sprinklers shall not be required to be installed
in spaces where the discharge of water would be hazardous. In such
places, other approved fire-extinguishing equipment should be provided,
as approved by the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, National Fire
Protection Association or other nationally recognized approval organization
and by the Fire Commissioner of the City of New Rochelle and the Building
Official of the City of New Rochelle.
A.
Failure to comply with any provision of this chapter
shall be deemed a violation, and the violator shall be liable for
a fine up to $1,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 30 days, or both,
and each day such violation continues shall constitute a separate
violation.
B.
An action or proceeding in the name of the City of
New Rochelle may be commenced in any court of competent jurisdiction
to compel compliance with or restrain by injunction the violation
of any provision of this chapter or to vacate the occupancy or building
in the case of imminent danger to life or property. Such remedy shall
be in addition to the penalties otherwise prescribed by law.
A.
Where unnecessary hardship may result from enforcement
of the strict letter of any provision of this chapter, application
for variances consistent with the spirit of this chapter may be made
to and acted upon by the Board of Standards and Appeals of the City
of New Rochelle. The Board is empowered to grant a variance when the
Board has found that:
B.
In granting any variances the Board of Standards and
Appeals may impose such conditions as such Board may reasonably determine
necessary to mitigate the consequences of the omission of an approved
sprinkler system from all or any part of a building, including the
requirement that alternative forms of fire-extinguishing equipment
be provided or a requirement of additional alarms or other devices
to ameliorate the effects of having no sprinkler systems.
If any section of this chapter shall be held
unconstitutional, invalid or ineffective, in whole or in part, such
determination shall not be deemed to affect, impair or invalidate
the remainder thereof.
The requirements set forth in this chapter shall supplement the requirements set forth in the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (NYSUFPBC), 9 NYCRR, Subchapter B, Section 742 and Section 774, and Chapter 111 (Building Construction), Chapter 147 (Fire Prevention), Chapter 174 (Housing Standards) and Chapter 331 (Zoning Regulations) of the Code of the City of New Rochelle. The plans, specifications, rating body approvals and other materials required by the Building Official and the Fire Commissioner of the City of New Rochelle relating to the sprinkler systems shall be submitted to the Building Official in conjunction with an application for a building permit pursuant to said laws and pursuant to the City of New Rochelle Zoning Law.
