Chicago’s oldest high-rises are running out of time to comply with the Life Safety Evaluation Ordinance. Owners have until year’s end to make their buildings safer in event of a fire.
The deadline is firm, said Department of Buildings Commissioner Felicia Davis.
“There will be no extension,” she said. “We are in the final days.”
The ordinance, passed in 2005, allows pre-1975 residential high-rises 80 feet and higher to be equipped with various safety features in lieu of fire sprinklers. These features include one- and two-way voice communication systems and one-hour fire-rated doors and frames in all stairways. All high-rises built since 1975 are equipped with sprinklers.
The ordinance applies to 729 residential buildings. Of these, 287 are condominiums and 15 are cooperatives.
Davis, who assumed her post in January, has made a priority of bringing all buildings into compliance.
Getting there entails several steps. First, a licensed engineer or architect evaluates the building and prepares a report detailing any needed improvements. The report is submitted to the Buildings and Fire departments for approval. Then building permits must be obtained for installation of the improvements and related construction. A final inspection by city officials must be wrapped up by Dec. 31.
In January 2012, 309 buildings had turned in their reports and received approval to make improvements, according to department figures. By early November, that number was 690. Six condominiums have declared plans to install sprinklers; they have until 2017 to do so.
Davis said her department streamlined the processes for report review and approval, permits and inspection so that buildings will not encounter delays. So far 244 buildings have passed their final inspections.
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“We have removed all barriers internally so people get what they need,” she said.
The penalties for non-compliance are severe. The buildings department has already referred for court action 45 high-rises that did not turn in their reports by the August deadline. Daily fines range from $1,000 to $2,500.
Gene Fisher, president of the Diversey Harbor Lakeview Association, said members of the high-rise coalition are in good shape to meet the deadline.
“A few buildings may have initially been taken aback by the costs of compliance, but their doubts were resolved when they became aware of the much more costly sprinkler alternative,” he said.
“It’s been a hardship on many of these buildings, but if it saves a life and saves a building, it is well worth it,” said Tairre Dever Sutton, president of Des Plaines-based Tairre Management Services.
Jim Stoller, president of The Building Group management company in Chicago, said 95 percent of his portfolio is on par.
“The hardest problem is some board members feel they are going to get by without meeting all the requirements, or they are holding off to see if they get another extension,” he said. “
The original compliance deadline was Jan. 1, 2012, but it was extended three years after the economic recession hit.
Stoller also noted in some cases inspectors have required additional work that associations weren’t anticipating.
“The inspections are very thorough,” Davis said. “We are walking every floor and looking at every door. Sometimes we find important elements that were missed in the report.”
When an inspector offered to take Sutton on a pre-inspection tour of one of her client buildings, she agreed.
“It was a great experience,” she said. “He showed me things that I walk by every day and never thought of like an open-air vent without a damper between two fire doors and little cracks along a door frame that just need fire caulking. A lot of these things aren’t in the ordinance, but you should be doing them anyway.”
“Starting Jan. 2, all buildings that have not passed inspection will be referred to court,” Davis said.