427.1 (New) 1. Located in Hurricane-Prone Regions. 2. Assigned to Seismic Design Category C or greater.

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1 427.1 (New) Proponent: William Hall, Portland Cement Association, representing Portland Cement Association Jason Thompson, Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards, representing Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards Stephen Skalko Add new text as follows: Part 427 HIgh Risk Areas The provisions of Sections though shall apply to buildings or structures classified as Risk Category II, III or IV where either of the following conditions exists: 1. Located in Hurricane-Prone Regions 2. Assigned to Seismic Design Category C or greater Height in feet. The maximum height, in feet, of a building shall not exceed the limits specified in Table for non-sprinklered (NS) buildings Number of stories. The maximum number of stories of a building shall not exceed the limits specified in Table for non-sprinklered (NS) buildings Allowable area. The maximum allowable area of a building shall not exceed the limits specified in Table for non-sprinklered (NS) buildings. Reason: Natural disasters, in areas shown to be at high risk, continue to cost this nation billions of dollars each year in damaged and destroyed property, clean-up, lost revenue, displacement of residents, re-building efforts and more. 650,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed and 300,000 business properties in New York and New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, while an estimated 7 million were without power. An estimated 80 Billion dollars in FEMA money will be spent solely on re-building and repair costs from just one storm. Katrina, in 2005 was more costly, with $81 billion in construction costs and over 1500 deaths directly associated with the storm. Studies by National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show the trends for hurricanes to be on the increase through the year 2100 and the

2 probability of seismic activity continues to increase based on studies and new maps released by the United States Geological Surveys (USGS). Low lying areas in coastal communities are at high risk of storm surge flooding. During and after these major events, damage to infrastructure and utilities is enormous. Major roadways can be destroyed or roadways impassable due to flooding and in addition the affected areas will experience large scale loss of power, loss of water, gas line ruptures and fire. Damage from fires after a high wind event, earthquake or storm surge can be devastating in both residential and commercial properties. The captions below show conflagration results from Hurricane Sandy 2012 in both commercial and residential areas. Emergency service resources are limited at best after a natural disaster and non-existent while a hurricane passes. Fires are left to burn until either they burn out or become accessible and become a priority. A fire within a building, with combustible construction, without an operational sprinkler system, is not likely to be controlled without passive fire containment. As recently as August 2014, the Napa Valley, CA area experienced an earthquake which caused moderate damage but still sustained 16 fires after the event. While the safety of fire sprinklers during normal times has a very good track record, the fact is: fire sprinklers will not work without a water supply and may not work without electrical service. During seismic and flooding events, water mains and electrical services are often damaged, electric fire pumps fail to operate, diesel fire pumps and emergency generators fail to operate if flooded, water pressure levels will be significantly lower from broken lines within the system, and exterior fire exposure from buildings without protection increases the risk of fire spread.

3 Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy Even with clear evidence that sprinkler systems cannot be a reliable suppression source in high risk areas and historical evidence that natural disasters are increasing in number and severity, the building code still provides significant trade off incentives for sprinkler systems to allow buildings to be built bigger and higher while allowing reductions in passive fire protection. This code change recognizes that active fire protection during and after a natural disaster can not be relied upon to operate exposing structures to a level of fire protection that is dramatically less than the minimum intended by the building code. To assure a minimum level of fire protection consistent with the intent of the code following disasters, this change seeks to eliminate sprinkler trade-offs for height and area increases in high risk areas. To accurately evaluate the relative construction cost it was determined that a multi-family residential structure should be schematically designed meeting all of the requirements of the International Building Code. Once designed, the buildings were reviewed for code compliance, and cost estimates would be prepared. The study was conducted by: Architect & Engineer: Haas Architects Engineers1 Code Official: Tim E. Knisely2 Cost Estimation : Poole Anderson Construction3 The building model chosen for the project was a 4 story multi-family residential structure encompassing approximately 25,000 gross square feet of building area per floor. The cost comparisons are based on the proposed target building assembled using a typical mix of one and two bedroom dwelling units The following construction types and alternates were included in the evaluation: Conventional Type V framing with Type V floor system Alternate: Conventional Type VA framing with Type VA floor system Non-combustible framing with fire-rated non-combustible floors (concrete on steel deck) Fire-rated load bearing non-combustible construction with fire rated non-combustible floor system (block and plank) The cost estimate for each building model included the complete fit out of each building with the exception of movable appliances and furniture. For more details on the specific criteria visit:

4 1Haas Architects Engineers is a multi-disciplinary architectural and engineering firm located in State College, Pennsylvania with a thirty year history of client centered service including commercial, single and multi-family residential, retail, and sports based projects. 2Tim E. Knisely is a senior fire and commercial housing inspector for the Centre Region Code Administration, in State College, Pennsylvania. Mr. Knisely currently holds a certification as a registered Building Code Official in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and holds more than eight certifications from the International Code Council. In addition, Mr. Knisely has been involved in the fire service for more than 20 years.

5 3Poole Anderson Construction is one of the largest building contractors in Central Pennsylvania with a 75 year history and an annual construction volume exceeding 60,000,000 dollars. Bibliography: Cost Impact: Will increase the cost of construction To evaluate the cost impact for every occupancy and use, type of construction and building configuration is excessively burdensome for any proposed code change. In an effort to satisfy the request in the code development process that construction type determined by the proponent to be influence by cost was evaluated to the most significant cost potential impacts relative to this proposal, rectangular 4-story Type V multi-family dwellings. The independent third party studies indicate that the cost differential ranges between minus 3% to plus 3% for the most significant cost impact associated with the code change proposal which typically shifted the design from Type V construction to other Types of construction. See reasoning statement