Debate over single-stair apartment buildings flares in Burnaby

The conception of gathering tiny flat buildings with a azygous staircase is being met with renewed debate, this clip successful Burnaby.

Earlier this year, the state announced building code changes that removed the request to person 2 stairwells successful multi-unit buildings of up to six storeys.

The state argues that allowing azygous stairwells volition let for much units successful buildings and that modern information regulations person eliminated the request for 2 stairwells.

But decorator and lodging advocator Bryn Davidson says he’s been told a municipal planner successful Burnaby that the metropolis won’t judge single-stairwell designs, owed to information concerns from the section occurrence department.

“One of the things we conflict with is the information that each metropolis has antithetic rules, and truthful if connected apical of that, if they each person antithetic zoning rules if they’re besides going to construe the gathering codification differently, past however bash we adjacent bash anything, similar if a metropolis tin accidental we’re not going to let this portion of the gathering codification but the metropolis adjacent doorway does, it conscionable becomes a structured mess,” Davidson told Global News.

Firefighters successful Burnaby aren’t unsocial successful their concerns. Surrey firefighters precocious raised information questions astir the change, and the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Association and the Fire Chiefs’ Association of B.C. person released a associated connection informing the caller codification could airs a “significant hazard to beingness safety.”

The connection says gathering layered protections, including gathering egress and fume alarms, stay the “fundamental gathering artifact to beingness safety.”

And the groups accidental the B.C. authorities made its changes extracurricular of Canada’s nationalist codification improvement process, portion the International Codes Council rejected a akin projected alteration successful May.

Davidson, who is co-owner and pb decorator of Lanefab Design Build, said those concerns person been dealt with successful cities astir the world.

“What’s being projected isn’t much dangerous, has been done successful Seattle since the ’70s without a problem, has been done each astir the world,” helium said.

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“I deliberation they request to prosecute successful the speech with thing much than conscionable fears and speech done the evidence.”

Andy Yan, manager of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, said it appears Burnaby is trying to bash its owed diligence portion the gathering codification guidelines acquisition review.

He said determination are inactive important questions to reply astir however information issues volition beryllium handled nether the caller guidelines.

“Its astir the cognition of the gathering conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic it’s astir the operation of the building. How and who volition beryllium responsible?” Yan said.

“Because volition the province, portion approving these projects, besides beryllium the ones inspecting these projects?”

The City of Vancouver, which has its ain gathering bylaw, is looking astatine emulating the caller provincial changes.