Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:	Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager
FROM:	Brandon McGuire, Assistant to the City Manager
CC:	James King, Mark Bradford, Casey Toomay
DATE:	August 8, 2015
RE:	Fire Code Revisions for Animal Housing Facilities

Background

On June 2, 2015, the City Commission received an update on the project to revise requirements in the City Fire Code pertaining to animal housing facilities. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 150 on Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities defines animal housing facilities as an area of a building or structure, including interior and adjacent exterior spaces, where animals are fed, rested, worked, exercised, treated, exhibited, or used for production. These facilities include but are not limited to animal hospitals, kennels, pounds, and mercantile or business occupancies with animals.

The attached June 2^nd agenda report provides background and timeline information on this issue. At its June 2^nd meeting, the City Commission considered City staff’s recommended fire code revisions which are listed below.

Retroactively require that all animal housing facilities provide smoke detection with integration into a monitored fire alarm system.
Require all new facilities or facilities subject to renovation:

a. <3,000 sq. ft. to provide smoke detection and monitored fire alarm;

b. >3,000 sq. ft. to provide smoke detection, monitored fire alarm, and automatic fire sprinklers installed to NFPA 13.

3. Require all facilities to provide:

a. Fire extinguishers and extinguisher training for staff;

b. Provide CO detection where fuel fired appliances are in use;

c. Develop and provide disaster/emergency management plans and provide drills for staff.

Representatives from the Lawrence Humane Society and Pet World spoke in support of staff’s recommended code revisions but proposed alternative provisions specific to the installation of automatic fire sprinklers. In total, three different recommendations for fire sprinkling requirements were presented to the City Commission. Those recommendations for fire sprinkling systems are reported below.

Ø Staff’s recommendation is to require all animal housing facilities larger than 3,000 square feet, that are new or subject to renovation, to install automatic fire sprinklers.

Ø The Humane Society’s recommendation is to require all new animal housing facilities, and those subject to renovation, to install automatic fire sprinklers regardless of the facility’s size.

Ø Pet World’s recommendation is to require all animal housing facilities to install automatic fire sprinklers immediately.

City staff’s recommended code changes were presented to numerous stakeholders this past spring, and the City Commission directed staff to reengage the stakeholders to learn more about the current fire monitoring and alarm system in place and the impact of the recommendations for automatic fire sprinkling systems. This additional input was solicited through meetings, phone calls, emails and a voluntary survey.

The stakeholder group was expanded to include every business that could be found that provides any type of animal services. In total, 22 businesses, including veterinarians, groomers, boarders, and retailers, were asked to complete a survey. Of those businesses, 13 businesses that operate animal housing facilities responded to the survey. A 14^th response was received from a business that does not operate an animal housing facility. The survey respondents appear to be a representative sample of the local animal services industry and include veterinarians, groomers, boarders, breeders and retailers. The following table provides an overview of the responses.

Animal Housing Facility Survey
Question	Response Overview
Are animals typically housed at the facility overnight?	11 facilities house animals overnight 1 facility does not house animals overnight 1 business did not respond to this question
How many animals are typically housed at the facility?	3 facilities house 10 or fewer 5 facilities house up to 30 1 facility houses up to 200 1 facility houses up to 10,000
What types of animals housed at the facility?	9 facilities house cats, dogs and/or small mammals 2 facilities house different types of animals in addition to cats, dogs and/or small mammals
How large is the facility?	8 facilities are 3,000 sq. ft. and larger 5 facilities are smaller than 3,000 sq. ft.
Is the facility owned or rented by the animal service business?	8 facilities are owned 5 facilities are rented
How old is the facility?	Average age of the facilities is 28 years The newest facility is 10 years old The oldest facility is 60 years old
What fire protection systems are currently in place at the facility?	1 facility has a fire sprinkler system 11 facilities have monitored fire/smoke detectors connected to a phone line 2 facilities do not have monitored fire/smoke detectors but do have non-monitored fire/smoke detectors 13 facilities have fire extinguishers 9 facilities have CO detectors

Staff received additional stakeholder input from meetings, phone calls and emails. Consistent with previous stakeholder input, there appears to be broad support for staff’s recommended Fire Code revisions. Installation of fire sprinkler systems would be a new cost on virtually all of the animal service providers and the stakeholders expressed concerns that mandatory sprinkling requirements for all facilities would be cost prohibitive. A few animal service business operators shared that they attempted to install fire sprinkling systems in the past but retrofitting their facilities was too expensive. The installation cost of retrofitting existing facilities with fire sprinkling systems is the primary concern voiced by the majority of stakeholders.

A number of variables factor into the cost of retrofitting a building with a fire sprinkler, so it is not feasible to develop a useful cost estimate for retrofitting the existing business facilities. A useful cost estimate would need to be provided by a contractor based on each facility’s unique situation. The fire line and the backflow preventer are two important components of a fire sprinkling system and the cost of these components is known. Fire line installation could cost $6,000 or more, and the cost of backflow preventers could range from $2,600 to $14,000 depending on the size and situation. Again, these costs are for two components of a fire sprinkling system and do not represent the entire cost.

Recommendation

Following the additional communication with stakeholders and the survey results, staff’s recommendation has not changed since the City Commission previously considered this issue.

Recommended Action