High-rise sprinkler measure advances

A bill that would require older residential high-rise towers to be retrofitted with sprinkler systems received the first of three necessary approvals Wednesday from the Honolulu City Council.

There was impassioned testimony both by those who support and oppose Bill 69, which Mayor Kirk Caldwell introduced in the wake of the July 14 Marco Polo condominium fire that killed three people and damaged dozens of units. The measure, which would apply to roughly 300 Oahu residential buildings more than 75 feet in height, now goes to the Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee for further discussion.

Marco Polo does not have fire sprinklers and was built in 1971, four years before the Council passed a law requiring all new residential towers to have sprinklers.

Several Oahu condominium owners pleaded with Council members to nix the proposal, arguing it would cause a financial burden that could leave some people homeless.

Lorraine Loui said she and many of the others living in her 180-unit condominium are retirees on fixed incomes. The estimate given for a sprinkler retrofit several years ago was $14,000 per unit.

“It’s a matter of cost and just to give people tax credits will not do it,” Loui said.

The buildings that would be affected by the bill are already at the age where they are requiring other types of repairs, Loui said. “We just went through a retrofit for plumbing,” she said. “We have a 500-square-foot unit; we were assessed $27,000. In another condo, they have problems with their windows.”

Natalie Fogle owns a unit in a 480-unit, high-rise tower that also is not fully outfitted with sprinklers. “I can tell you that the retrofit in that building would be extremely expensive and complicated,” Fogle said.

She urged the Council to defer the bill until the Honolulu Fire Department determines what caused the Marco Polo fire so it can make more informed decisions, given the impact such a mandate could have on condo owners.

“A hastily drafted, kind-of-a-knee-jerk legislation benefits no one,” Fogle said. “It does not benefit any of the residents in those buildings, and the timing for implementation is well off in the future. … Carefully considering whatever legislation may come of this is a much more prudent and appropriate method going forward.”

Karen Winston Fox said she flew to Honolulu to testify in support of the bill in honor of Britt Reller, one of the three people who died in the Marco Polo fire.

Fox said Reller had been a close friend since the two were flight attendants for Northwest Airlines in 1985. “We lost a genuine friend, a crusader for the disenfranchised,” she said.

The three victims died needlessly, Fox said, adding, “My question to you is how many souls will have to be lost before something is done?”

Caldwell made a rare appearance in the Council’s meeting hall. “If there were sprinklers in that unit, the fire would not have spread,” he said.

If the bill is passed, the Fire Department would rank the buildings that would need a retrofit by their degree of risk.

In related news, the Council approved Resolution 17-195, urging Caldwell to reconvene a Fire Code advisory committee. Both Caldwell and Honolulu Fire Chief Manuel Neves said they supported the resolution.