Letter: New sprinkler bill makes common-sense updates

The editorial, “High-rise fire safety” (Our View, Star-Advertiser, April 27), did a fine job of reviewing the facts, but missed and left out key facts about Bill 96. The bill is to clarify issues that appeared after Ordinance 18-14 was put in place. The City Council is not easing requirements, as you state, but being realistic about getting building permits approved and other issues resolved. The condos should not be penalized due to strict timelines because of building permits, when it is taking a year or more to get a permit. None of the timelines have been changed.

Other changes include having the evaluation done by a licensed design professional authorized to use their seal to authenticate the evaluation. Your editorial stated the evaluation could be skipped if the condo wanted sprinklers; why is this bad? Isn’t it common sense that if the condos can save the expense of between $6,500 to $15,000 to do the evaluation, because they want sprinklers, why not?

These are common-sense clarifications. Why wouldn’t the mayor sign Bill 96?

Eric Johnson

McCully-Moiliili

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