Town Hall / Storage Building

[Mech]

2015 IBC
Type 5B construction

Proposed 8,145 sf storage building for a municipality with an attached 1,200 sf "office". The "office" is actually a 700 sf public meeting room, 136 sf general office, 47 sf tax office, toilet room, corridor, and kitchen area. I do not have any information on the kitchen area yet, but I am thinking it will be a kitchenette area. The kitchen area is included in the 700 sf public meeting room and is accessed from the public meeting room.

303.1.2 Small assembly spaces. The following rooms and spaces shall not be classified as Assembly occupancies:
1. A room or space used for assembly purposes with an occupant load of less than 50 persons and accessory to another occupancy shall be classified as a Group B occupancy or as part of that occupancy.
2. A room or space used for assembly purposes that is less than 750 square feet in area and accessory to another occupancy shall be classified as a Group B occupancy or as part of that occupancy.

Could the public meeting room be considered an accessory to the remaining 500 sf "office" so that it receives a Group B occupancy? I am thinking since the meeting room is over half the "office" area, it would be a primary use with Group A-3 occupancy. The meeting area is certainly not accessory to storage building. Opinions?

Thanks!

 

[JPohling]

The public meeting room is less than 50 occupants so it will be a B occupancy

 

[JPohling]

My assumption is with tables and chairs....................

 

[e hilton]

47 sf tax office … even the municipality hates that department.

 

[steveray]

Without the business occupancy, there would be no meetings....I could probably work with that...This makes it weird:

508.2.3 Allowable building area. The allowable area of
the building shall be based on the applicable provisions of
Section 506 for the main occupancy of the building.
Aggregate accessory occupancies shall not occupy more
than 10 percent of the floor area of the story in which they
are located and shall not exceed the tabular values for nonsprinklered
buildings in Table 506.2 for each such accessory
occupancy.

 

[Mech]

My assumption is with tables and chairs....................

Unfortunately there is one table with 6 chairs in the first 100 sf and then 22 loose chairs in the remaining 600 sf. The calculated occupant load is currently above 90.

Without the business occupancy, there would be no meetings....I could probably work with that...This makes it weird:

Where I live, the entire first floor of an existing 1,400 sf building was turned into the council chambers. Municipal offices are in a different building. This swayed my idea for the meeting area being a primary use.

 

[Jay Smith]

The 2015 IBC commentary says these exceptions are not limited by the accessory use requirements found in Section 508.2. It goes on to show examples that are greater than 10 percent of the floor area but less than 750 square feet.