Appealing Like a House Afire.
By Jim Conley • August 30th, 2007 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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More on the denied building permit (after initial plan review) for the Town and Boston Archdiocese’s housing project at the former St. Aidan’s Church [see previous post].
The manner of egress is, shall we say, a significant consideration under the state building code. We kind of like to be sure that people can get out of a building quickly in case of fire. And if you’re building a wood framed structure, it’s all the more important.
It’s one of those things that makes you wonder why we need a regulation or law to get done. I mean, wouldn’t this be the first instinct of a “quality developer”? Attention to safety and all.
Well, from what I’ve been told, the developer at St. Aidan’s is now seeking a waiver (from the Commonwealth) of the fire safety code requirement that led to the denial of their building permit. And this waiver, if granted, would apply to the non-affordable housing units. Which, I guess, is a switch for an affordable housing project.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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The current downswing in the real estate market presents many challenges to the marketing of the market-rate units for this project. If the state waiver is granted, I suppose the marketing brochure will present this as a positive, perhaps focusing on the protection provided by a HIGHER AUTHORITY.
The real question may be to ask what are the savings, cost or otherwise, by not complying with the state egress requirement. Is it possible that the basic design for the structure in question may have to be drastically changed to satisfy the state egress requirement? OOPS? This should be a fairly simple cost/benefit analysis for architects in our Town who are on the sidelines of this project.