By KRISTIN DANLEY-GREINER – DesMoinesRegister.com

Johnston’s fire code and developers’ desire for lower construction costs have ignited discussion among city officials and leaders of the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines.

Johnston code calls for sprinkler systems in townhome buildings with a total of 8,000 square feet or more. Leaders with the home builders group met with the Johnston City Council during a work session last month to ask them to review the sprinkler-system requirements and consider changing them to match what neighboring suburbs require.
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“We would like to see uniformity for the western suburbs,” said Creighton Cox, director of government affairs for the home builders association, in a recent interview. “The eastern suburbs have different policies and Des Moines doesn’t have the policy at all.”

Johnston’s townhome sprinkler policy raises costs that must be passed on to buyers, Cox said.

“You’re spending approximately $5,000 to $6,000 more … on a townhome in Johnston because of this policy. So we’re essentially telling home buyers that you can go to Johnston schools and buy the same townhouse in Urbandale for less money than in Johnston. This becomes a competitiveness issue for cities and builders.”

Johnston Fire Chief Jim Krohse said the city’s current sprinkler requirements have been in effect since October 2006. West Des Moines’ sprinkler rules have been in place since 1992, he said, with requirements in place since 2000 in Urbandale and Clive but only since 2006 in Grimes.

“Other communities, like Urbandale and Clive, allow townhomes that are open on two sides to not have sprinkler systems,” Krohse said.

“For me, this fire code is important for many reasons,” Krohse said. “When you look at apartment buildings and condos, every community requires them to have sprinklers regardless of how large they are and they are categorized as multifamily units. I view townhomes the same way. Anything larger than a duplex with three or more units is a multifamily building.”

Cox said builders want to see consistency in cities’ fire codes.

“We need a single uniform policy among the communities,” he said. “We’d like to see an allowance for the fire wall, which, according to international building code, is sufficient to protect adjacent residents from the fire spreading and isn’t a life-safety issue to the neighbors residing within the same complex.”

Krohse said townhomes should be required to have sprinkler systems because the residents are relying on the “fire-safety consciousness” of neighbors.

“In a single-family home, you do your best to avoid problems, but you’re not responsible for your neighbors,” Krohse said, “which is why in Johnston, condos and townhomes have this requirement.”

Minutes from the work session note that council members said they had questions about the sprinkler policy.

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