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Petition starts locally to repeal sprinkler law
By Kyle Magin Staff Writer
http://www.theunion.com/article/20101224/NEWS/101229827/1006&parentprofile=1053
Several local builders and people employed in the housing industry are opposing new California building standards.
The standards call for builders to install sprinkler systems in all new homes, a proposition building officials said can add $6,000 to $12,000 to new buildings.
“It's so cost-prohibitive to new homebuilders,” said Walt Wilson, a Grass Valley-based real estate broker. Given the shaky state of the economy, “this is not the right time for these rules,” he added.
California's State Fire Marshal called for the standards as a way to protect homes and contain flames to buy residents time to exit the structure.
Barbara Bashall, executive director of the Nevada County Contractor's Association, opposes the sprinkler requirement.
“I think it's bad timing to add new regulations at a time when the housing market is so impacted,” Bashall said.
Wilson is one of several western Nevada County housing professionals who signed off on a petition generated by David Long of Grass Valley's Lincoln and Long civil engineering firm.
“These mandatory sprinkler systems will cost Californians millions of dollars, and stifle an already suffering building industry,” Long said in an e-mail to supporters urging them to sign the petition. It currently has close to 400 signatures and will be submitted to the state after Dec. 30.
The regulations cut into a builder's ability to offer a competitively priced project, said Grass Valley Planning Commission vice chair and Tru-Line Builders Project Supervisor Daniel Swartzendruber, who added his name to the petition.
“It's like hitting a dog while it's down,” Swartzendruber said. “A developer is trying to make a certain percentage, and when you're adding that much money to it, you're just killing a project.”
Nevada County's Supervisors panned the sprinkler element when adopting the state's new building standards earlier this month. Visit http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41179.html to view the petition.
To contact Staff Writer Kyle Magin, e-mail kmagin@theunion.com.
By Kyle Magin Staff Writer
http://www.theunion.com/article/20101224/NEWS/101229827/1006&parentprofile=1053
Several local builders and people employed in the housing industry are opposing new California building standards.
The standards call for builders to install sprinkler systems in all new homes, a proposition building officials said can add $6,000 to $12,000 to new buildings.
“It's so cost-prohibitive to new homebuilders,” said Walt Wilson, a Grass Valley-based real estate broker. Given the shaky state of the economy, “this is not the right time for these rules,” he added.
California's State Fire Marshal called for the standards as a way to protect homes and contain flames to buy residents time to exit the structure.
Barbara Bashall, executive director of the Nevada County Contractor's Association, opposes the sprinkler requirement.
“I think it's bad timing to add new regulations at a time when the housing market is so impacted,” Bashall said.
Wilson is one of several western Nevada County housing professionals who signed off on a petition generated by David Long of Grass Valley's Lincoln and Long civil engineering firm.
“These mandatory sprinkler systems will cost Californians millions of dollars, and stifle an already suffering building industry,” Long said in an e-mail to supporters urging them to sign the petition. It currently has close to 400 signatures and will be submitted to the state after Dec. 30.
The regulations cut into a builder's ability to offer a competitively priced project, said Grass Valley Planning Commission vice chair and Tru-Line Builders Project Supervisor Daniel Swartzendruber, who added his name to the petition.
“It's like hitting a dog while it's down,” Swartzendruber said. “A developer is trying to make a certain percentage, and when you're adding that much money to it, you're just killing a project.”
Nevada County's Supervisors panned the sprinkler element when adopting the state's new building standards earlier this month. Visit http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41179.html to view the petition.
To contact Staff Writer Kyle Magin, e-mail kmagin@theunion.com.