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Occupant loads for smoking areas and for vegetable gardens?

Y

Yikes

Gold Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Messages
3,093
Location
Southern California
Existing 63-unit California motel remodeled during Covid under "Project Homekey" to serve homeless. Filled in the outdoor swimming pool and paved it over for sanitary reasons.
Longer-term, we are now adding kitchenettes in the rooms and changing them form R-1 into R-2 apartments.

due to occupancy change, city wants to look afresh at everything. fire department now wants me to assign occupant loads to the former pool / now patio area. Honestly, it's just a designated smoking area, but I can't find anything. in Table 1004.5 that resembles it. when it was a pool, occupant load was under 49. Now that it's filled in, if I use "tables and charis at 15 SF/person, I exceed 49 and 2 exits are required. I can't do this because 2nd exit would not be accessible - - it would dump into the parking lot.

Likewise, the property manager wants to eliminate some parking stalls to build a garden with raised planters, etc. Again Table 1004.5 gives no clues as to how to treat the occupant load of a garden plot.

Any thoughts?
 
1004.7 Outdoor Areas
Yards, patios, occupied roofs, courts and similar outdoor areas accessible to and usable by the building occupants shall be provided with means of egress as required by this chapter. The occupant load of such outdoor areas shall be assigned by the building official in accordance with the anticipated use. Where outdoor areas are to be used by persons in addition to the occupants of the building, and the path of egress travel from the outdoor areas passes through the building, means of egress requirements for the building shall be based on the sum of the occupant loads of the building plus the outdoor areas.
 
Yikes said:
Existing 63-unit California motel remodeled during Covid under "Project Homekey" to serve homeless. Filled in the outdoor swimming pool and paved it over for sanitary reasons.
Longer-term, we are now adding kitchenettes in the rooms and changing them form R-1 into R-2 apartments.

due to occupancy change, city wants to look afresh at everything. fire department now wants me to assign occupant loads to the former pool / now patio area. Honestly, it's just a designated smoking area, but I can't find anything. in Table 1004.5 that resembles it. when it was a pool, occupant load was under 49. Now that it's filled in, if I use "tables and charis at 15 SF/person, I exceed 49 and 2 exits are required. I can't do this because 2nd exit would not be accessible - - it would dump into the parking lot.

Likewise, the property manager wants to eliminate some parking stalls to build a garden with raised planters, etc. Again Table 1004.5 gives no clues as to how to treat the occupant load of a garden plot.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
And don't forget that with the cooking, unless they are offsetting the energy increase in other ways, the building needs to meet today's energy code...

C505.1 General​

Spaces undergoing a change in occupancy that would result in an increase in demand for either fossil fuel or electrical energy shall comply with this code.
 
classicT said:
Are these proposed spaces sheltered or provided with any permitted structure?
Click to expand...

In the outdoor smoking area, there will be a freestanding trellis, but it is not weatherproof / impervious roof, so there is no enclosed or sheltered area (per CBC 202 definition of "floor area"). The main purpose of the trellis is to entice smokers far enough away from the existing motel building that their smoke will not drift into the building openings.

Here's an example (from the internet, not my site) of the kind of structure I'm talking about:

1708455940057.png
 
Yikes said:
In the outdoor smoking area, there will be a freestanding trellis, but it is not weatherproof / impervious roof, so there is no enclosed or sheltered area (per CBC 202 definition of "floor area"). The main purpose of the trellis is to entice smokers far enough away from the existing motel building that their smoke will not drift into the building openings.

Here's an example (from the internet, not my site) of the kind of structure I'm talking about:

View attachment 12902
Click to expand...
Got it. It is a structure and provides some shelter, so I would be similar to @steveray and assign an OL and issue a CO. But the garden area, I'd be unlikely to get too involved with other than making sure an accessible route is provided.
 

1004.7 Outdoor Areas​

Yards, patios, occupied roofs, courts and similar outdoor areas accessible to and usable by the building occupants shall be provided with means of egress as required by this chapter. The occupant load of such outdoor areas shall be assigned by the building official in accordance with the anticipated use. Where outdoor areas are to be used by persons in addition to the occupants of the building, and the path of egress travel from the outdoor areas passes through the building, means of egress requirements for the building shall be based on the sum of the occupant loads of the building plus the outdoor areas.

Standing space plus loading for exiting units. Also note this space maybe used for parties.
15 sf per person would be reasonable.
 
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