Garages shall conform to all other applicable requirements of this code,
as well as the following provisions.
No person shall use any building, shed or enclosure as a place of business
for the purpose of servicing or repairing any motor vehicle therein without
a permit.
No flammable liquid with a flash point below one hundred degrees Fahrenheit
(100º F.) shall be used in any garage for washing parts or removing grease
or dirt, unless in a special closed machine approved for the purpose or in
a separate well-ventilated room enclosed by walls having a fire-resistance
rating of not less than two (2) hours with openings therein protected by approved
fire doors or fire windows and with no opening from such room or to any upper
or lower story.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
GARAGE
The building or that part thereof in which there shall be housed
or kept one (1) or more self-propelled vehicles or automobiles, containing
flammable liquid for fuel or power.
For the purposes of this chapter, garages are classed as follows: Class
A, private garages; Class B, tenant garages; and Class C, public garages.
A. Class A. A private garage is one in which there shall
be housed or kept not more than four (4) self-propelled vehicles or automobiles,
belonging to the owners, lessees or tenants of the property or any part thereof
on which the same are situated. The following regulations shall govern the
maintenance of all private garages:
(1) Gasoline in excess of one (1) gallon, exclusive of that in the tanks of the vehicles in storage, shall not be kept in a private garage unless confined in a tank or tanks placed not less than two (2) feet beneath the surface of the ground, as hereinafter provided in §
35-43D of this chapter.
(2) A private garage may be occupied as a dwelling by the
owner or his employee or tenant or by the owner and one (1) other tenant,
provided that not more than two (2) stories above the garage are occupied
or used for living apartments, which apartments shall be separated by fire-retarding
walls, floors and ceilings not pierced except by one (1) opening, protected
by a fireproof, self-closing door. If there is not an entrance to the living
apartment direct from the street without passing through the garage, a fire
escape or other secondary means of escape must be provided for each story
above the garage.
(3) Where a private garage is annexed to or contained in
a private dwelling, the living quarters shall be separated from the private
garage by fire-retarding walls, floors and ceilings, not pierced except by
one (1) interior opening which shall be protected by a fireproof self-closing
door.
(4) No permit shall be required for the maintenance of a
private garage, but the same shall be subject to inspection by the Fire Chief.
B. Class B. A tenant garage is one operated for the use
of the tenants of an apartment or lodging house, which garage provides a space
or area to house or keep not more than sufficient automobiles to accommodate
the tenants of such apartment or lodging house.
(1) All tenant garages hereafter erected shall be of strictly
fireproof construction as to all rooms and compartments where motor vehicles
with gasoline in their fuel tanks are stored. Where the ground floor area
of a garage exceeds five thousand (5,000) square feet and is located below
grade level, it shall be subdivided by means of walls of fireproof construction
at least eight (8) inches thick, unpierced except for one (1) opening and
protected with automatic self-closing fire doors on each side of the opening;
provided, however, that no subdivision shall exceed five thousand (5,000)
square feet in area.
(2) Any such garage located below grade level shall be ventilated
by windows opening directly onto the street or a court, by skylights in the
roof or by other approved means of mechanical exhaust ventilation approved
by the Fire Chief. All windows nearer than ten (10) feet to adjoining buildings
must be of wire glass set in standard metal frames and sash, arranged so as
to be automatically self-closing in case of fire.
(3) Gasoline in excess of that in the supply tanks of vehicles
in storage or lubricating oil in commercial quantities shall not be kept,
stored or sold in any tenant garage.
(4) There shall be no pit in any floor and no artificial
light other than incandescent or fluorescent electric light.
(5) Smoking shall not be permitted in any tenant garage,
and in every such garage signs to that effect shall be prominently displayed
in three (3) or more places. Such signs shall have the words NO SMOKING in
red letters at least four (4) inches high on white background, also the words
BY ORDER OF THE FIRE CHIEF in black letters at least one (1) inch high.
(6) No gasoline or other volatile or flammable liquid shall
be allowed to run upon the floor or to fall or to pass into the drainage system
of the premises. Each floor of the garage shall be equipped with self-closing
metal cans, and all flammable waste and materials shall be kept therein until
removed from the building.
(7) On each floor of every such garage, there shall be two
(2) or more approved chemical fire extinguishers, and four (4) or more pails
of sand shall be kept conveniently located for use in extinguishing fire.
Such garages shall be kept clean.
(8) No stove, forge, torch, boiler or other furnace, flame
or open fire shall be permitted or used in any such garage unless separated
from the garage by fireproof material with an entrance from such space leading
to the outer air.
(9) No tenant garage shall be maintained or used as such
until an annual permit therefor has been granted by the Fire Chief and the
requirements herein contained and hereinbefore specified complied with.
A public garage is any garage not included in the classes above specified.
The following regulations shall govern the maintenance and operation of all
such garages:
A. No public garages hereafter erected shall be located
or maintained within fifty (50) feet of any private or multifamily dwelling,
school, place of assemblage or place of detention. No public garage hereafter
erected shall be permitted in any building occupied for dwelling purposes.
In all public garages hereafter erected, all tanks, filling lines and pumps
used for gasoline, oil or volatile flammable liquids must be located at least
fifty (50) feet from the adjoining property lines.
B. There shall be no artificial light other than incandescent
or fluorescent electric light.
C. All storage of gasoline shall be in underground tanks;
provided, however, that there may be in each garage one (1) or more approved
portable wheeled tanks, each of a capacity not exceeding sixty (60) gallons,
to be used for transferring such liquid from the storage tank. The number
of these wheeled tanks shall be fixed for each garage by the Fire Chief. The
reservoirs of motor vehicles shall be filled directly through hose from pumps
attached to such portable tanks or by hose coupled by permanent filling stations
connected with the main storage tanks. No transfer of gasoline in any garage
shall be made in any open container. Hose for use in connection with the filling
station or with the portable tank shall be of such design and material as
to prevent leakage.
D. The top of each storage tank shall be at least two (2)
feet below the surface of the ground and may be permitted underneath the building
if buried at least two (2) feet below the lowest floor. Buried tanks shall
be set on a firm foundation of cement concrete at least six (6) inches thick
and shall be surrounded by soft earth or sand, well tamped into place or encased
in concrete. A tank may have a test well, provided that it extends to near
the bottom of the tank, and its top shall be hermetically sealed and locked
except when necessarily opened. When a tank is located underneath a building,
its test well shall extend above the source of supply.
E. All drawing-off pipes terminating inside of any building
shall have valves at the discharge ends.
F. The end of the filling pipe for every underground storage
tank shall be carried to an approved location outside of any building, but
not within five (5) feet of any entrance door or cellar opening and shall
be kept locked except during filling operations. This filling pipe shall be
closed by a screw cap. A thirty-by-thirty-mesh or equivalent brass screen
strainer shall be placed in the supply end of the filling pipe.
G. Each tank used for the storage of volatile oil shall
have a vent pipe at least one and one-fourth (1 1/4) inches in diameter, which
shall run from the tank to the outer air at least five (5) feet above the
roof and five (5) feet from the nearest window and shall be well braced in
position. It shall be capped with a double gooseneck with a screen of twenty-mesh
brass wire gauge placed immediately below the gooseneck. No tank hereinafter
installed for the storage of gasoline or any other volatile oils in the Village
of Pelham shall exceed two thousand (2,000) gallons' (U.S.) capacity for a
single tank, and not more than six thousand (6,000) gallons' (U.S.) capacity
shall be stored in a single location.
[Amended 11-18-1986 by L.L.
No. 5-1986]
H. Liquids shall be drawn from tanks by pumps so constructed
as to prevent leakage or waste splashing, or by some other system approved
by the Fire Chief, with controlling apparatus and piping so arranged as to
allow control of the amount of discharge and to prevent leakage or discharge
inside the building by any derangement of the system. When inside of a building,
the pump or other drawing-off device shall be located on the grade floor,
preferably near an entrance or other well-ventilated place.
I. Smoking shall not be permitted in any public garage,
and in every such garage signs to that effect shall be prominently displayed
in three (3) or more places. Such signs shall have the words NO SMOKING in
red letters at least four (4) inches high on white background, also the words
BY ORDER OF THE FIRE CHIEF in black letters at least one (1) inch high.
J. No gasoline or other volatile or flammable liquid shall
be allowed to run upon the floor or to fall or to pass into the drainage system
of the premises. Each floor of a garage shall be equipped with self-closing
metal cans, and all flammable waste and materials shall be kept therein until
removed from the building.
K. On each floor of every such garage there shall be two
(2) or more approved chemical fire extinguishers, and four (4) or more pails
of sand shall be kept conveniently located for use in extinguishing fire.
Such garages shall be kept clean.
L. No stove, forge, torch, boiler or other furnace, flame
or open fire shall be permitted or used in any such garage unless separated
from the garage by fireproof material with an entrance from such space leading
to the outer air.