So here I am, out and about enjoying a little dinner with some friends, and I can't help but continue to spot a multitude deficiencies...meaningful ones (not just sign ordinances that are fairly harmless). Why is it that we seem to have such a difficult time enforcing simple codes. I have met Mr. Herring, the codes enforcement officer, and let me tell you, he is one heck of a guy (in a very good way). But time and time again, simple things seem to slip through the cracks, so I am beginning to wonder very seriously about his superiors. Anyway, let me set up the situation for you all.
First of all, I am pulling into the new Ponchos parking lot and thinking Holy cow! This place is packed! I wonder if we are even going to be able to find a parking spot? We pull into the last spot in the place, kind of near the hotel an get out to walk in. Feeling very proud that business is alive an well in Spring Hill, I begin to wonder..."What happens when this particular business development adds another business or two? Where are the extra customers going to park?" In fact, I have often wondered why we require so little parking on all of our business developments in the first place. I might as well park at the Snappy Tomato when I go to Applebees. I might as well skip La Hacienda after about 6:30. When I visit Asuka after it opens I think I may just go ahead and reserve a spot at Taco Bell. Anyway, I digress...back to Ponchos.
I get into the restaurant and it is wiggle room packed. My friends are already there and we are on the list for about a 45 minute wait. That is fine, we like to catch up from the prior week. Anyway, moving along...
This is my first time to the new Ponchos, so I need to give it a once over. They have a pretty nice new little place there. Other than a need for much more parking, and maybe a little more waiting room area I think that it was a positive move for them.
As I continue to chat, wait, and look around, I begin to notice that something seems a little different to me but I can't quite put my finger on it. Wait, that's funny, where are the sprinklers? I see a fire extinguisher, but I can't find a sprinkler in the place. Surely our new business developments are required to have sprinklers? I guess I will have to go look that up when I get home.
Well now I am home, and this is what our city requires:
All commercial buildings of 10,000 gross square feet or larger ARE required to have an automatic sprinkler system. Well, I wonder how big this commercial building is?
Well, let's see now.
Okay, so the building is 10,500 square feet with no sprinkler.
WHY are we continuing to miss this stuff? Although many of you out there may think that this is some vendetta against Mr. Raines, it really is not. My beef here lies directly with city hall. More specifically, my beef lies with the Director of the Codes Department, and if the problems continue for too much longer...THEN my beef trickles up to the City Administrator for not fixing the situation with the Codes Department. And if it continues much longer after that...THEN my beef lies squarely with the Mayor and the BOMA.
I tell you what Mr. DeFrancisco, I have not yet made up my mind about who I am voting for in your Ward, but I would not mind if you put in your resume to begin working in codes enforcement with Mr. Herring. I think that Mr. White is a nice enough guy, but it seems to me that he is either in over his head, or he needs some help. I am not sure which, and I don't have to make the decision, but I could fill this entire website for days with items that slip though the cracks.
Also Ron, I have not forgotten about my promise to tell you what I think about your roads plan and 10 bullet points. It should be up soon (probably in pieces because frankly I have written too much.) But really, maybe you should think about turning in your codes department application. I would love some help with this stuff because I am getting too busy to add "Codes Director" to my list of responsibilities.
Update:
I asked Jonathan Duda to check up on this for me and this particular building is 9600 square feet. If the patio was ever enclosed, they would be required to put in a sprinkler system. So, having said that...I guess my beef does in fact lie with the developer in this case.
For any of you that want a homework assignment, attend the next couple of Planning Commission work sessions and we'll chat about it later. You would all be SHOCKED at what they would get away with if a person or two were removed from that board. You will also understand why several of them want Mr. Duda removed so badly.
14 comments:
Gorilla,
Funny you should mention that. I turned in my application and resume to Mr. Herring after the first time I met him and learned that there was only one Codes Officer in our city. Mr. Herring turned it into Mr. York, and there it sat. I never heard anything, so I assumed that Mr. York decided one Codes Officer was more than enough. Now I have my current job, which I enjoy thoroughly and would not leave, even if Mr. York called me on Monday and offered me the job (although I doubt that would ever happen now since I think my views and his differ some, and I am sure he has read my posts. Plus, now I would prefer to use my codes experience to help make our ordinances more enforceable and ensure that Beau has the resources he needs to get his job done by becoming an Alderman).
Even if I am not elected, I would be more than willing to help you or anyone else that asks to develop solutions to our codes problems.
A couple things I would like to see in regards to Codes Enforcement;
1. Reduce Mr. White's burden by having him in charge of only Zoning and Building.
2. Hire three additional Code Officers like Beau, and explore the possibility of Beau becoming the Chief Code Officer. Place this unit under the Police Department with the Chief Code Officer reporting to the Chief of Police. This gives both the Police and Codes Officers additional resources in the enforcement of municipal ordinance.
3. Form a Fire Inspections Division under the Fire Department with a full-time Fire Marshall to ensure that all of our structures are up to Fire Code on an annual basis(which by your comments, at least one of our buildings is not).
As far as your comments after the poll, take your time. I am in no rush, I was merely curious as to when we could expect your thoughts on the topic, I as am quite interested in where you stand on this one.
The "Gorilla Codes Director", I liked your business card. The safety aspects of this situation are very serious. This was a controversial issue in Tennessee recently with the NHC nursing homes that changed sprinkler laws nation wide. We need to understand the importance of this code and its enforcement. Our city leaders must give our codes department more resources to do their job effectively for the safety of our citizens.
Gorilla,
Beau would have more time to handle the important cases where public safety is involved (i.e. fire sprinklers for commercial buildings) if he didn't have to respond to morons who call to whine about someone's dogs barking. I have a neighbor in Wyngate who owns three dogs. Several weeks ago, they got a visit from Beau that another neighbor had complained about her dogs' barking. (Never mind that none of her neighbors on her street or next door had ever complained and the moron making the complaint lives almost 100 yards away on another street.) Beau informed her about the noise ordinance and that the law was in effect from 10 PM - 6 AM. Out of common courtesy, my neighbor started bringing her dogs inside before 10 PM. She was recently greeted at her door by two Spring Hill police officers serving a summons regarding a violation of the noise ordinance. Upon going to court to fight the charge, the judge mentioned that this same neighbor had made over a dozen complaints about the dogs. Absolutely stunned as this was the first my neighbor had heard of this, she asked if the judge would mind reading the police and codes reports made by the responding officers. Most if not all read that upon inspection of the property, no noise could be heard. Some even went on as to question whether any dogs were maintained at the residence. Most of the complaints were during the day and practically all before 10 PM. The last complaint that preceded the summons was at 8 PM.
My neighbor shared tht many in the courtroom could barely keep a straight face as these reports were being read. It was evident that the complaint was baseless. The facts not withstanding, my neighbor still had to pay a fine and court costs.
Now honestly, should we be bothering Beau and our police officers with this nonsense? How about a little common sense in how we utilize our city's resources? And as for community, if you have a beef with your neighbor, why not take it directly to them before wasting the time of our city employees and our tax dollars because of some frivilous complaint? Most people will do the right thing if given an opportunity.
Tim Richards
There's two sides to every story Tim, but I agree that neighbors should be neighbors first.
Yes, there are always two sides to every story. Perhaps moron is too strong a word. Maybe I'm in need of some sensitivity training.
Seriously, most neighborhood conflicts could be solved amicably over a cup of coffee if people would communicate with each other as reasonable adults.
I want to encourage everyone to read today's issue of "The Advertiser News" which includes an informative discussion by the candidates for the Board of Mayor and Alderman. Get a few of your neighbors together and invite a candidate to Saxby's for a cup of coffee. This is an important election which will shape the future direction of our city. Educate yourself about the candidates and where they stand on the issues. After all, if we as citizens fall prey to apathy, we get the government we deserve.
A word to the candidates: I applaud your courage and dedication for stepping up to run for public office in an effort to improve our community. It is a thankless job and you are to be commended. In seeking to differentiate yourselves from your fellow candidates, please try to concentrate on the things that you can effect and please don't make promises over issues which you have no control. I'm speaking specifically about two of our heaviest traveled roads, Duplex Road and Hwy 31. As both of these are state roads, our city is at the mercy of TDOT and the process in place in which we are actively engaged. Even if we were able to fund both projects wholly from city resources, we lack the authority to alter these state roads independent of the process in place.
Here's an idea. How about making a commitment on behalf of our city to provide supplemental funds to each of our schools as the city of Brentwood currently does? Infrastructure contributions(i.e...sewer lines and driveways)are a good start, but what I'm describing is a sustained effort (included in our annual budget) to make our schools the best equipped of any city in either Maury or Williamson counties.
Hey gorilla
The important numbers should not be if a building is 9600 or 10000 sq feet and must have sprinklers. I think the following are more important facts and numbers.
According to the National fire sprinkler Association
"Aside from fire fighting and explosion fatalities, there has never been a multiple loss of life in a fully sprinklered building due to fire or smoke. Individual lives have been lost when the victim or his clothing or immediate surroundings became the source of the fire. "
THe cost would be another number to consider.
"The cost of a complete sprinkler system depends on many factors, such as the building type and construction, availability of public water supply, and degree of hazard of the occupancy. For new construction, systems usually cost from $1.00 to $1.50 per square foot, less than the cost of carpeting."
My view on this subject is biased because of my line of work but it would seem to me Spring Hill should have much more strigent codes on sprinklers. A good example might be
"The city of Oak Brook, Illinois, requires sprinklers throughout all new buildings exceeding 1,000 square feet in area except single-family dwellings."
For that matter the city should look at a residencial sprinkler ordinance. I would have paid the less than 1% of the cost of the house to have them.
ole fire fighter
Mr Tim Richards,
I have not had the opportunity to try Saxby's yet, so if you would like to meet, grab a cup of coffee and chat, I am more than willing. Feel free to e-mail me at jfriday240@hotmail.com or call me at 615-557-3896 and we'll set something up.
Ole Fire Fighter,
I have not talked to you lately, good to hear from you again. I would have paid an extra 1% for sprinklers if they were offered too. The coffee invitation also extends to you and anyone else interested.
It is Sunday afternoon, and as I sit in my Shannon Glen home behind Publix there are about 10 dumptrucks and 3 or 4 bulldozers mass grading the site behind Publix. Why is this well-coordinated grading project occuring on Sunday? I thought that construction work was not allowed on Sundays. Yet, here I am, typing to the cadence of beep, beep, beep from the backhoes.
I suspect this is yet another example of the city giving a preferential wink, wink to a favored contractor who is clearly breaking the law. Is it not obvious to the police that the steady string of dumptrucks driving down highway 31 today is heading to and from an active worksite?
We're almost in the same boat my friend. Last night, I not only had the beep beep beep of a bulldozer right behind my house (by "right behind" I mean I could have spit on it from my fenceline), but I had its headlights shining into my living room. Call your Alderman. Then call the police.
MD
I saw a comment on here about someone's dog barking got them a fine and wanted to ask a question. i live in Campbell Station and recently received a certified letter from the City of Spring Hill (I have not been able to get to the post office to pick it up yet). I have a dog that we will let out several times a day and she will bark and run around if someone is on the sidewalk or she sees another dog. Is it possible they would send this complaint via certified mail versus having someone come talk to us first? I have been told the old adage of you typically do not get anything good via certified mail. Our dog is restrained by an underground fence and has never broken the barrier, but the casual observer would not know this.
MD,
That is just the beginning. Wait until you have a car wash there, and Kroger getting 3am deliveries. Nothing says good morning quite like an 18 wheeler making a delivery (only about 85-95 dBA in intensity). This is why I am against mixing commercial and residential uses and for stricter ordinances on development. The faster they can build, the sooner they can make a dollar and as long as we allow it to continue, they will take a mile for every inch we give them. Just goes to show how much the developers really care about Spring Hill, it's residents and it's laws.
I would like to address the comment about the Raines/ Varney building. I believe the square footage is more around 5000 square feet. When I reveiewed the plans I don't remember the building coming close to 10,000 square feet. In the builders defense they did look into installing Fire Sprinklers on their own, not because it was required, but after getting estimates decided it was too expensive. So I'm pretty sure that the building is well with-in compliance with the ordinance. Now, this does not mean I like the fact that the building is not sprinklered but you can't enforce what is not given. A few years ago the Board fought off pressures from the Builder's Association and others and passed this Sprinkler Ordinance and that was a good thing. Although, the original square footage threshold was 5,000 square feet the ordinance finally passed at 10,000. Along with that threshold another part was passed mandating fire sprinklers be installed in all multi-family dwellings including apartments, townhomes, etc. I know what you are going to say, I've been in these types of building in town but they don't have sprinklers. The reason is because it has taken a few years to get to the buildings that had not been already approved when this ordinance passed. This was a major win for the City of Spring Hill and the future citizens that will live in these buildings. There are a few buidlings out there that don't have sprinklers but anytime thay undergo expansion major renovation they too will have to install sprinklers. Several buildings have had to retrofit sprinklers already and this will continue into the future. There are many cites around us that do not require fre sprinklers in these occupancies but Spring Hill does. As for the last point Mr. Defrancisco makes, the SHFD has a Fire Pre-plan Program which includes each commercial occupancy being inspected by Fire Companies bi-annually. Each fire district has been divided up into three sections, because the firefighters are divided up into three shifts. Each shift is assigned a number of buildings and they go out and perform Fire Safety Surveys bi-annually in every commercial occupancy in the city. Every year these groups are moved to another shift, therefore in three years every firefighter has a chance to walk through each commercial occupancy in the city, this is required by ISO. While they perform these surveys they note any infractions found. The Fire Marshal reviews those reports an investigates any major infraction. Many times the simple notice of infraction that is given by the Firefighters get things in compliance. The overall goal of this program is to of course prevent fires but also to educate the business owners which makes it more likely that they will comply with the fire code. This is Program is much more efficient than one person inspecting each occupany. My approach at Code's enforcement is different than many people but it works. I did not waste much time in court most of the time compliance was reached through this method and everyone felt like they were a part of making the city safe. I was not perfect at the job and i'm sure there things that i missed, I'am human but overall I think I did a good job.
Jose,
Thank you for the info. The Hometown Commercial building is a little over 9,500 sq feet with a covered patio that is roughly 1,000 sq feet. The covered patio was supposed to be enclosed and part of the building. It appears from my observation that Mr. Raines intentially reduced the sq footage of his building so that he wouldn't have to install a $15,000 sprinkler system.
The smaller Raines/Varney building that you may be thinking of might be the old house on 31 that is now the Hometown Realty office.
Jose,
That was very well explained. I would figure a man of your common sence would run for aldermen. Maybe even mayor. I am sure you would have the support of all the Franklin Firefighters that live in the city. They know the true meaning of the word brotherhood. Just my 2cnt.
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