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Applicability of Historic Bldg Code to ALL of CBC (IBC)

Y

Yikes

SAWHORSE
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Messages
4,104
Location
Southern California
There's an upcoming code appeal to the California Bldg. Standards Commission, and I found the basis of appeal to be interesting code analysis, to allow an R-2.1 memory care use on an upper floor cupola of a historic San Diego hotel that for a brief period served as a home for the "aged and feeble-minded".

The attached pdf is part of the agenda at the BSC.
 

Attachments

While I did not analyze all the points of the document, I enjoy a well thought out dissertation of the facts from both side of the disagreement.
 
I read the first page or two, here‘s my thoughts. Developer must have deep pockets, this has been going on since 2018. Also ... sounds like the city has a problem with fair play: they want to apply certain standards to every building in town, with the specific exception of this one.
 
The appeal says the city never put their concerns in writing, and therefore the owner has made their best attempt to state the city's side of the case based on what they've been verbally told.
If I were to try and state the city's motivations, there is an inherent nervousness about putting people who are incapable of self-preservation (due to memory loss) in an old building that does not meet today's code standards.
The owner is arguing that in this case, the historic building code IS today's code standards, and that sprinklering the building is an acceptable level of mitigation of risk in a historic building.
As we all know, there is no such thing as a 100% risk-free building. There is only what we as a society have deemed acceptable levels of risks and trade-offs for other benefits, such as historic preservation and adaptive re-use. The owner is stating (1) they have a prescriptive right per the historic building code, and (2) their proposed safety measures also have a performative mitigation effect.
 
quite a web they have woven but this isn't the first time SD has failed to clearly state their case.
 
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