Excerpts from the KaneCountyChronicle.com:
Geneva aldermen voted 8-1 on Oct. 1 to remove a requirement for fire sprinklers in all new residential construction in adopting an ordinance covering the 2015 editions of several international building codes including housing, swimming pools, spas, and energy conservation.
The most significant change in the International Residential Code would require all new one-family and two-family homes to be equipped with fire sprinkler systems,.
4th Ward Alderman James Radecki urged the council to discuss the issue, as he argued against adding the cost of sprinklers – $8,500 – to the price of house. Additionally, he said that Geneva averages about three house fires a year without injuries or fatalities, served by a well-equipped, well-trained fire department with two stations.
“We’re trying to keep our housing affordable,” he said. “It’s not prudent for us to mandate it at this time.”
4th Ward Alderman Jeanne McGowan disagreed, saying many advocates for fire sprinklers included people who lost family members in house fires.
“Most new homes have open floor plan designs,” she said. “Fires spread very quickly. … New construction materials burn very quickly.” Sprinklers give residents a better chance to escape a fire safely and a fire is more easily controlled.
A local builder said in 35 years of homebuilding, no buyer ever asked for sprinklers to be installed. Another builder disputed the $8,500 price estimate for sprinklers, and said $20,000 to $30,000 was more accurate a cost.
