The target date for completion of a new code consolidating Rhode Island’s building and fire codes into a single user-friendly statewide rehabilitation code for existing industrial and commercial buildings has been pushed back at least six months.
George Farrell, chairman of the 16-person drafting committee formed by the General Assembly, said the initial target date of July 1, 2001 will realistically be pushed back toward the end of the year.
“It is certainly my intention and the hope of the entire committee that within the next 30 days we will have a draft of the code to bring to the drafting committee for full review,” he said. “Then the two elements (building and fire) go back to their respective boards, and then there are public hearings and training. It would be a minimum of two to three months just for training.”
“It’s going to take some time but we are moving in the most expeditious manner as possible,” he said. “I’m fully aware of the impact this could have for economic development and rehabilitation on the state of Rhode Island.”
The impact of the universal code coincides with Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr.’s Mill Restoration Program.
“It’s not just serendipity,” said Stephen Durkee, a principal with Providence architecture firm Durkee, Brown, Viveiros & Werenfels. “I think all of these forces have been building to something and the whole idea of trying to get our older buildings into reuse is the success of our heritage.”
Farrell agreed.
“I think about 80 percent of the permits that will be pulled for building permits will be pulled under the rehabilitation codes,” he said. “There are a lot of great properties out there that can be developed and put back on the tax role and used for business, assembly, storage and residential occupancy.”
Scott Wolf, executive director of Grow Smart Rhode Island, and a member of the committee, said the plan should be done expeditiously, but also thoroughly.
“We might have to move the timetable back a little bit,” he said. “We are making progress but there is still some work to be done.”
He said the committee, which has split into a subcommittee of four committee members, to work more efficiently, has been reviewing a draft code submitted by Melvin Green and Associates, which had done some work on drafting similar rehabilitation codes in Maryland and New Jersey. The subcommittee includes Farrell, Durkee, Building Commissioner for the state of Rhode Island Joe Cirillo, and State Fire Marshal Irving Jesse Owens.
Although the code is taking its cues from other states that have already employed universal codes, it will be very much a Rhode Island fire and building code, insisted Farrell.
“As we have gone through the codes we use for Rhode Island, we’ve revised some of the draft based on the information,” he said. “This is not the New Jersey code, and this is not the Delaware code, it will be the rehabilitation code specific to the state of Rhode Island.”
“You have two different building codes reviewing the same thing, and each one has its own rules and regulations, whether it be regarding stairs, dead end corridors, or widths of doors,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is make one code, having one authority looking at each building element.”
“It might be more helpful if you put in a sprinkler in a dead end corridor rather than tear down the building because it doesn’t meet the current code,” he said.
Wolf said the flexibility of the codes is an important issue.
“There are several paths to high safety standards, and having a more flexible, user-friendly code can maintain the same level of safety as the current system,” he said. “What we see in a flexible rehabilitation code is increased flexibility on structural issues in return for very stringent fire suppression such as sprinklers.”
Farrell said after the new code is adopted and the drafting committee dissolves, he will be chairman of the rehabilitation committee, to serve as an authority if people request interpretations or variations of the code.
“What this is going to do is be a more user-friendly code, but not only for experienced developers, but also for the general public at large,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a benefit to everybody.”
Durkee said the cooperation between parties has been harmonious, and although time is of the essence, the stability of the code is more important.
“In the end it’s more important that it works well than to try to jam it into the first week of July because we had planned to have it done by then,” he said.
