Council panel hears sprinkler opinions

Firefighters and condominium owners Tuesday met before a City Council committee for the first time since the July 14 Marco Polo fire left three people dead and discussed potential incentives for, as well as obstacles in the way of, retrofitting aging residential towers with sprinkler systems.

The Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee, meanwhile, moved out Resolution 17-195, calling on Mayor Kirk Caldwell to convene a residential fire safety advisory committee in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the Marco Polo tragedy. The resolution will now likely be approved by the full Council at its August meeting.

The resolution was introduced by Council members Carol Fukunaga and Ann Kobayashi, whose districts have lots of condominiums, just as Caldwell introduced Bill 69, which would make it mandatory for all high-rises without sprinklers to install them.

Kobayashi said she will consider Caldwell’s plan, but only if it helps condominium associations and owners recoup some of the costs of putting in sprinklers. “Most of the older (condo) buildings are in our district, and the older the building, the more residents are elderly or on fixed income. How do we help these people?” Kobayashi said.

Council Chairman Ron Menor said it’s likely the mandatory sprinkler bill will need to be accompanied by incentives for condo owners who go through with a retrofit.

“My concern is that if the city is going to require the installation of these systems, then clearly the city should also try to develop measures to provide financial assistance to condominium associations and unit owners to cover the huge cost of installing these systems in the future,” Menor said.

City Budget Director Nelson Koyanagi said the city administers Community Development Block Grant money that could be used to create low-interest loans for condo owners on fixed income or in low-income categories.

Fukunaga said one idea would be to defer interest on CDBG loans until the property is sold. Councilman Ernie Martin said he would prefer the CDBG money be distributed for grants rather than loans because even a $50 monthly payment, “for a senior on a fixed income, that’s grocery money that they would probably be hard-pressed to come up with.”

The condos taking part in retrofitting could also be lumped together by the city as their own improvement or community facilities district and then be able to take advantage of 25- or 30-year improvement bonds with low interest rates, Koyanagi said.

Contained within a report issued by a 2005 residential fire safety advisory committee are recommendations for real property tax credits or exemptions, and a reduction or waiver of building permit fees for those seeking to install sprinkler systems. “That would be something we could take a look at,” Koyanagi said.

Assistant Fire Chief Socrates Bratakos said it “warms my heart” to hear Council members discuss revival of a fire safety advisory committee. HFD Chief Manuel Neves, as did a string of predecessors, supports mandatory sprinklers for residential high-rises. “These building are not going away, and neither are the people living in them,” he said.

Jane Sugimura, president of the Hawaii Council of Associations of Apartment Owners, said improvements to residential buildings typically need to be approved by a minimum of 50 percent of owners.

“You can mandate anything you want, but you’re not going to get anything,” she said. If any apartment owners don’t want sprinklers, “they’re not going to allow us to penetrate the unit.”

Sugimura, who served on the 2005 committee, said she supports the resolution because an advisory committee will help those condo associations without sprinklers figure out how much such improvements would cost their owners. No condominium owner she knows of has enough funds to pay for such a major project and would require a new set of special assessments.

Sugimura said she liked a letter to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in which the writer suggested that condos be required to install sprinklers in hallways and other common areas and then require sprinklers in units as part of the cost when they’re sold.

Richard Port, who is on the association board at Yacht Harbor Towers, also served on the 2005 committee. Port suggested that if the city considers a mandate, that it not require every building to be retrofitted by a single date.

Randy Kinst, treasurer of Chateau Waikiki, suggested the city look at allowing a “lease-back” program that would not require a 50 percent buy-in from owners.