Chicago Alderman's Resolution
2/8/2010
U.S. Congress H.R. 1194 and U.S. Senate S. 2947
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, there has been a series of recent fires in high rise buildings within the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the fires in buildings with automatic sprinklers were extinguished without incident and resulted in no injuries or deaths; and
WHEREAS, the fires that occurred in buildings without automatic sprinkler systems spread quickly and resulted in multiple injuries and death; and
WHEREAS, on December 15, 2004, the City Council of the City of Chicago unanimously adopted the Life Safety ordinance, appearing on pages 39962-39972 of the Journal of Proceedings; and
WHEREAS, the Life Safety ordinance was enacted to ensure the safety of Chicagoans who work and live in all high-rise buildings; as a compromise, high-rise buildings that are not required to install sprinklers are required to file a Life Safety Evaluation, certifying that the building provides "sufficient protection to [the] life and safety of building occupants;" and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 13-196-206, all existing buildings exceeding eighty (80) feet in height, that are not required by Section 13-196-205 to be protected by an approved automatic sprinkler system, were to submit a Life Safety Evaluation no later than January 1,2006 to the Department of Buildings and the Bureau of Fire Prevention; and
WHEREAS, of the 759 buildings that were required to file such Life Safety Evaluations by January 1, 2006, 652 buildings, or eighty-sixty percent (86%), have filed such Evaluations with the Department of Buildings as of December 2009; and
WHEREAS, seventy-six percent (76%), or approximately 496, of those buildings that have filed their plans have failed to achieve the standards set forth by the Department of Buildings; and
WHEREAS, even thought the Municipal Code of Chicago authorizes "any violation or interference with the enforcement of any provision" of the Life Safety ordinance shall be punishable "by a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1000 for each offense," no buildings have been fined for non-compliance; and
WHEREAS, as of December 2009, the City has failed to collect nearly $23 million in potential fines; and
WHEREAS, three-fourths of those buildings have failed to ensure the safety of those living in non-sprinkled buildings and that figure is unacceptable to this municipal body and to the people of this City; and
WHEREAS, only 156 buildings have passed the City's Life Safety Evaluation, including the building located at 260 East Chestnut Street; and
WHEREAS, on December 10, 2009, a fire on the thirty-sixth floor of the building at 260 East Chestnut claimed the life of an 84-year-old woman; and
WHEREAS, since our earliest days of Chicago's settlement, the people of this City have encountered fires of life-changing magnitude; and
WHEREAS, life in Chicago has been often shaped by our response to such tragic events and now is not the time to abandon our dedication to the safety and well-being of the people of this great City; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Joint Committee of the Committee on Buildings and the Committee on Police and Fire convene hearings at which the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings and the Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department appear to explain the lack of full compliance with the current municipal law; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the hearings of the Joint Committee address the validity of the assessment process for the City's Health Life Safety Evaluations.
Co-Sponsors,
Alderman Edward M. Burke
14th Ward
Alderman John A. Pope
10th Ward
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