Round-Table Meeting on Sprinklers in Townhouses Set for Monday

By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

The Oxford Board of Aldermen will be holding a public round-table discussion to gain input on a proposed change to the city’s building code that would require sprinklers in all newly constructed townhouses.

Currently, the building code requires them in all other newly constructed residential structures. Building officials are requesting the city update its code to align with the 2018 International Building and Fire Codes. When the city updated the codes in 2012, townhouses were not made to require sprinklers, even though the 2012 International Code included them.

Building Official Randy Barber said townhouses were left out in 2012 because there just wasn’t that many being built in Oxford.

“That’s changed in the last couple of years,” he said during the first reading of the proposed change in November.

The matter was set for a vote Tuesday; however, it was pulled from the agenda and Mayor Robyn Tannehill announced a round-table meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Monday in the RSVP room next to City Hall to give contractors, city officials and the public a chance to provide input and ask questions.

Aldermen Jason Bailey and Mark Huelse expressed concern that the requirement would drive up construction costs which in turn would decrease affordability for townhouses and the damage that could be caused by broken water lines during the winter months if the lines are not installed and insulated properly.

Tannehill said in November that if the sprinklers saved lives, it outweighs the risk for property damage.

The proposed upgraded Building Codes can be reviewed online at https://www.boardpaq.com/get?c=O9%2fxzspFO6tVUtGNQX8QFg%3d%3d.