Housing advocates and fire marshals are at odds over a state bill which makes it legal to have a single stairwell for apartment buildings up to five stories.
Those in favor of the bill say the legislation will help create an easier pathway to affordable housing construction, especially in inner cities, since less space is required.
However, opponents of the bill say allowing one stairwell is a safety concern.
The bill passed, but the state鈥檚 Department of Administrative Services鈥� (DAS) Codes and Standards Committee, which is drafting the building code, later added more restrictions.
Nick Kantor, director of housing policy group Desegregate CT, says the way the code is written makes it too restrictive.
鈥淭hey've effectively made it really, really, really hard in the current implementation to actually build, both from some of the building code side, and fire requirements,鈥� Kantor said. Which basically is going to neuter any use of this to actually do what it's intended to do.鈥�
The were open to public comment until Oct. 11.
鈥淭he Codes and Standards Committee is now reviewing those comments,鈥� DAS Director of Communications Leigh Appleby said. 鈥淭he committee will meet on November 12 and consider any changes based on the comments received.鈥�
The final drafts must be approved by several committees before being formally adopted, Appleby said.
Along with allowing buildings to be five stories with a single stairwell, the drafted code 鈥渋mposes fire department staffing and equipment requirements so restrictive that, in practice, very few (if any) 黑料吃瓜网 municipalities will be able to adopt the reform,鈥� by the Regional Plan Association鈥檚 黑料吃瓜网 Director Pete Harrison.
A found the age of a building is the primary factor in determining the risk of a fatal fire. Over the last three years, 黑料吃瓜网 saw zero deaths from fires in residential buildings built after 2000, according to Harrison.
鈥淭his compromises safety, both for the occupants and the firefighters, we feel,鈥� Roger Nelson, president of the 黑料吃瓜网 Fire Marshals Association, said.
But, Nelson said the risk isn鈥檛 worth the claims of more affordable housing construction.
Rather, the high cost of new, safe features like stormproof doors and elevators, and the cost to maintain and upkeep the safety measures would outweigh the cost benefit in constructing a single-stairway building, according to Nelson.
鈥淚've never seen a cost benefit analysis done on any of this to show what this taking away one stairwell would actually accomplish,鈥� Nelson said. 鈥淐ost wise, when you have to add in pressurized stairs, pressurized elevators, maintenance of all this equipment actually may put the cost higher than what the buildings are now.鈥�
