Chicago’s Proposed ‘Fire-Trap’ Ordinance Sparks Flames

North side after the fire (above)

By Don DeBat

Chicago may be the Windy City, but it also is home of some of the greatest fires of the past century.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871—when most city neighborhoods consisted of wooden balloon-frame homes—claimed more than 300 lives, displaced 100,000 people and scorched 3.3 square miles of the Windy City.

A few years later, in 1903, the Iroquois Theater fire at 26 W. Randolph in Chicago’s Loop took 602 lives.

In 1958, the devastating “Our Lady of the Angels” elementary school fire at 909 N. Avers in Humboldt Park tragically took the lives of 92 children and teachers.

In 2003, the E2 Club fire at 2347 S. Michigan Ave. claimed the lives of 21 young people at a social event.

Gold Coast after Chicago fire (above)

So, when 47^th Ward Ald. Matthew J. Martin recently proposed an ordinance that would let developers construct buildings of up to five stories with a single stairwell, eye brows rose.

It is true that none of the historic disasters mentioned above took place in buildings that would be covered by Ald. Martin’s proposed ordinance.

However, fire experts and building-department leaders aren’t ready to go out on a ladder. The proposed change to the city’s building code is drawing pushback over safety concerns from Chicago fire and officials and other critics, including a firefighter union leader who said it “should be avoided at all costs.”

Advocates say the proposed “Fire-Trap Ordinance” is a bid to make apartment construction more affordable and to increase higher density development. The Home Front column asks:

What is Ald. Martin smoking?

Let’s turn the clock back to 1945, when during the post-World War II housing shortage, builders and landlords were allowed to split up residential buildings to create more “fire-trap” apartments.

For example, a typical three-flat apartment in Old Town was chopped up into seven units, including a dank one-bedroom basement abode where renters likely shared space with rats.

Each apartment had only one exit stairway and no fire escapes. In 1948, renters typically paid $16 to $20 a month and shared the one bathroom on each level.

Today’s retired Old Towners recall some cash-strapped, worried renters on upper floors would tie a rope to their bed post at night for quick window escape in case of a fire disaster.

Last year, Ald. Martin introduced legislation to allow apartment buildings between two and six stories to be constructed with only one stairwell and entrance and exit on each floor. Currently, only two-story buildings are allowed to have one stairway.

That ordinance has since been revised to apply to buildings with a maximum of five stories after earlier feedback from the fire department,

said.

The proposed code change—which would bring Chicago in line with similar so-called “progressive practices” in New York City, Seattle and other cities—would also mean developers could skip constructing central hallways in the impacted buildings, giving them more space to build apartments or to construct larger, family-sized units.

Housing providers would also save money on construction costs by only needing to build one stairwell instead of two, advocates said.

At a recent hearing on the ordinance held by the City Council’s zoning committee, Martin said the measure would act as one tool to boost apartment production across Chicago, something sorely needed amid Chicago’s well-documented affordable housing shortage.

“While this is not a silver bullet by any means, I think one modest solution involves reforming our staircase regulations around three-, four- and five-story buildings,” Martin said.

The legislation would also require single-stair buildings to include modern fire protection protocols, including sprinklers and self-closing doors. Sprinklers are generally required in buildings with four or more units, but there are some exceptions allowed.

Still, the measure garnered skepticism and opposition at the hearing, where no vote on the ordinance was taken. The Chicago Fire Department and the building department opposed it in its current form.

Erik Steinmetz, president of the Chicago Firefighters Local 2 Union, said during the public comment period that the code change would result in deaths “and should be avoided at all costs.”

“A second stairway is not an architectural luxury. It’s a life-safety feature. It is a second chance when a first path fails,” Steinmetz noted.

Chicago building code currently requires buildings with more than two stories to have more than one stairwell. Exterior stairways like a back porch can also qualify for buildings up to four stories.

Construction experts also wonder if the city’s powerful building trade unions would give the green light to a the single-stairway suggestion. After all, a typical union carpenter’s stairway-labor workload would be cut in half.

Martin’s measure would extend the single-stair rules to buildings up to five stories, with no more than four apartments per floor, for a maximum unit count of 20 dwellings. Only new buildings would be impacted.

Affordable housing advocate Alex Montero, chairperson of Strong Towns Chicago, said the one-stairway ordinance with mandated sprinklers could spark the construction of more below-market-rate apartments because any new building with more than 10 units would have to follow the city’s affordability requirements.

However, influential city leaders are far from on board with the current version of the ordinance. During a recent presentation, Dept. of Buildings Commissioner Marlene Hopkins expressed concern about the proposed ordinance, and said it could harm the safety of both building residents and firefighters.

“For decades, Chicago has required multiple independent means of egress in residential buildings, because redundancy saves lives,” Hopkins said. “When one exit becomes compromised by fire, smoke, structural failure or emergency operations, occupants and first responders must have an alternative path available.”

Jim McDonough, the assistant deputy commissioner of the Chicago Fire Dept., noted that two stairwells in smaller buildings are vital during fires so one can be used for evacuations, while firefighters utilize the other one to do searches and stage the operation.

“With two stairwells, we’re quicker in our primary searches. We get water on that fire quicker. It’s like clockwork. Then, everyone goes home,” McDonough said.

He also added that the fire department has only 10 tower-ladder trucks in the city that can reach up to the sixth floor of a building.

Despite the push back from experts, Ald. Martin still believes his single-stair proposal has legs, and could benefit Chicagoans in need of new housing. Martin said the measure could possibly come up for a council vote by July.

For more housing news, visit www.dondebat.biz. Don DeBat is co-author of “Escaping Condo Jail,” the ultimate survival guide for condominium living. Visit www.escapingcondojail.com.