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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC81048 - 6/25/81 - 6125 Shingle Creek PkwyI✓_ .� JING COMMISSION FILE File Purge Date: 717 45 FILE INFORMATION Project Number: 810/A a PROPERTY INFORMATION Zoning: PLAN REFERENCE Note: If a plan was found in the file during the purge process, it was pulled for consolidation of all plans. Identified below are the types of plans, if any, that were consolidated. • Site Plans • Building Plans • Other: FILE REFERENCE Note: The following documents were purged when this project file became inactive. We have recorded the information necessary to retrieve the documents. Document Type Date Range Location Agendas: Planning Commission Office Minutes: Planning Commission r, (L5le, I City Vault Minutes: City Council 7 1, 3 1---3J City Vault Document TYpee Number Location Resolutions: Planning Commission City Vault Resolutions: City Council City Vault Ordinances: City Council City Vault COMMERCIAL/INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY FILES CHECKLIST CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER Street Location of Property Legal Description of Property PLANNING COMMISSION ZONING APPLICATION Application No. Please Print Clearly or 'Type 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway RLS 1440 Tract B of RLS 1359 Owner Hennepin County Address Minneapolis, Minn. 55487 Phone No 348-3179 Applicant Albert G. Voza, Architect - Project Manager for Hennepin County Address A2208 Government Center, Mpls., MN 55487 phone No. 348-3179 Type of Request: Rezoning Subdivision Approval X Variance Site & Bldg. Plan Approval Special Use Permit Other: Description of Request: Hennepin County respectfully requests that the City of Brooklyn Center grant a variance to Section 5-302 of the Fire Prevention Ordinance, which is provided for under Section 5-303. It is requested that Hennepin County be allowed to monitor the sprinklers in the Brookdale Library and Service Center with monitoring equipment in their Central Operations located in the Hennepin County Government Center, where neither the Fee mend �.88r e station is approve Receipt No. 56083 i lldoz-A- App icant s sIgnature Dates of P.C. Consideration: Approved Denied ing cond'tions: PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION this 72-'�-day of CITY COUNCIL ACTION Dates of Council Consideration: /( I m Date M9 , subject to the follow- rman Approved Denied this __L3_ day of S)----CLQ 19 with the following amendment: Cl erk P/I Form No. 18 (over please) BACKGROUND INFORMATION - REQUEST FOR A VARIANCE FOR THE BROOKDALE LIBRARY AND SERVICE CENTER FROM SECTION 5-302, FIRE PREVENTION ORDINANCE 6-11-81-AGV Hennepin County has long recognized the importance of fire prevention in its equipment and facilities. This is one of the reasons that an Automated Building Management System (ABMS) was installed in the 1.4 million square -foot Government Center. This system not only controls all of the building's environmental systems, but also monitors the fire protection equipment - smoke sensors, sprinklers, heat detectors, halon systems, etc. This same equipment also monitors and controls the Adult Detention Center in the old Court House, the Welfare Building and the Southdale Library and Service Center. Extending this capacity to our other regional library/service centers was planned some time ago to take advantage of the benefits of automatic building control and property protection. The main control for our ABMS is located at Central Operations in the Government Center. Central Operations is operated by at least one trained person 24 hours per day, every day (procedures are attached). Guards and maintenance workers are also available in the building on the same basis, to respond to emergencies of any nature. Direct phone lines to the Minneapolis Fire Department are now utilized and an automatic dialer is being added which will permit very fast notification of any emergency situation to the proper autho- rity. Alarms are processed at Central Operations within 10 seconds of their initiation at the location where they occur. All of our equipment is maintained under a service con- tract which requires the availability of qualified, on -duty maintenance personnel 24 hours per day every day (copy of service contract is attached). The ABMS was installed during 1974-75 and met all code requirements in force at that time. However, neither the equipment nor the operation was then, or has since been UL approved. The equipment is a JC/80 built by Johnson Controls, Inc. UL approved equipment was available at the time (JC/81), but was not ordered due to the higher cost for the extra equipment and the lack of any benefit in terms of reliability or operational ease. Also, it was felt that since Central Operations was to be operated for the benefit of the County only (i.e., the monitoring service would not be offered to other organizations) to avoid competition with private alarm companies, the extra cost was not warranted. It should be noted that this ABMS at the Government Center will be operated regardless of whether or not the variance is granted. That is, we will operate the Brookdale Library/ Service Center through the JC/80 system even if our sprinkler system is monitored in- dependently by Brooklyn Center. While the cost of this duplication of effort and equip- ment is not great, it does represent a duplication of expenses to the taxpayer. Also, it should be noted that the monitoring system which the City of Brooklyn Center now operates is not UL approved - probably for much the same reason that Hennepin County's is not. On Tuesday, June 2, 1981, several Brooklyn Center staff members visited the Central Operations office at the Government Center to view the JC/80 monitoring system and its operation. MEMORANDUM TO: Ronald A. Warren, Director of Planning and Inspection FROM: Andy Alberti, Building Inspector SUBJECT: Hennepin County Library, Brooklyn Center, MN Monitoring the Fire Sprinkler System Per City Ordinance Section 5-302 DATE: June 5, 1981 The following opinions are formed through the result of a meeting held at the Hennepin County Government Center June 2, 1981. The Central Station signaling system presently installed and manned at the Government Center appears to operate and function in accordance to codes set forth by the National Fire Protection Association Standard No. 71 which directs the installation, maintenance and use of Central Station Signaling System:;, Questions directed to the personnel in charge of operating the system's equip- ment indicate to me that they follow the standards and procedures directed by N.F.P.A. Standard No. 71. The equipment being operated at the Government Center is quite a sophisticated monitoring board as it will indicate both trouble and fire alarms. All of the installed equipment is certified by Underwriters Laboratory. The operation of the board itself has not been certified by U.L. as required in the City Ordinances, but basicly, all U.L. would do to certify the operation would be to check the operation according to N.F.P.A. Standard No. 71. Basicly, this board operates and is manned in the same manner as the operation presently in use at the Brooklyn Center Police Department. The operation of the alarm board in the Police Department does not have Underwriter Laboratory certification, but is acceptable by the City Ordinance as a monitoring signal station. It is my opinion that the Hennepin County Library in Brooklyn Center could be connected to the monitoring station at the Hennepin County Government Center and would operate as well as if it were connected to any U.L. certified station. Hennepin County has indicated that they would provide a testing contract to have the system tested at least once a year per our request. ianni'n� Commission Information Sheet Application No. 81048 Applicant: Hennepin County/Al Voza Location: 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway Request: Variance The applicant seeks a variance from Section 5-302 of the Brooklyn Center Fire Code to allow for the monitoring of the fire sprinkler system inside the new Hennepin County Library by a remote substation at Hennepin County Government Center which is not UL (United Laboratories, Inc.) approved. Section 5-302 provides that'"... The fire extinguishing system shall be connected to the City of Brooklyn Center Remote Station Fire Alarm System according to the provisions of Section 5-501 through 5-505 of the City Ordinances or shall be connected to a central station system approved and listed by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. and shall remain so connected and maintained during the life of the building." The procedure for variances from the Fire Code are the same as those contained in the Zoning Ordinance. The Standards for granting a variance from this section of the Fire Code are as follows: 1. A particular hardship to the owner would result if the strict letter of the regulations were carried out; 2. The conditions upon which the application for a variance is based are unique to the parcel of land or the use thereof for which the variance is sought and are not common, generally, to other property or uses thereof within the same zoning classification; 3. The granting of the variance will not be detrimental to the public welfare or injurious to other property or improvements in the neighborhood. Mr. Al Voza of the Hennepin County Property Management Division has submitted a letter including background information (attached) on the County's central moni- toring system, the Automated Building Management System (ABMS). Mr. Voza explains that the ABMS monitors the Government Center, the Adult Detention Center, the Welfare Building, and the Southdale Library and Service Center. The ABMS is located at Central Operations in the Government Center. Alarms are processed at Central.Operations within 10 seconds of their initiation at the location where they occur. The equipment used in the ABMS is a JC/80 system built by Johnson Controls which is not UL approved, although a JC/81, which is UL approved, was available at that time. Mr. Voza notes, however, that the County will use the ABMS system, even if the variance is not granted and a connection is required to the City's remote monitoring station at City Hall. Finally, Mr. Voza points out that the City's remote station itself is not UL approved and no qualitative improvement in monitoring the fire sprinkler systems would thereby result. One of the primary considerations with respect to this variance request is the financial cost ($10,000) of having a system certified by United Laboratories" In situations where there is only one such system, it is rather expensive to obtain UL approval than in cases where a manufacturer sells numerous systems. The applicant is correct in assuming that the City has resisted seeking such approval because the cost of doing so is great while no qualitative difference exists between the City and County systems and those manufactured and installed by private companies. Standard No. 1 relating to hardship, therefore, seems to be met. 6-25-81 -1- pplication No. 81048 continued The conditions upon which the variance is based are not totally unique to the Library property since the City's system is likewise unapproved. However, the conditions are certainly not common to other uses within the Cl or C1A district or any commercial or industrial district. It is, therefore, felt that Standard No. 2 is met. Finally, the ABMS monitoring system will not be detrimental to the public welfare since it meets essentially the same qualitative standards as UL approved monitoring systems. Standard No. 3 would, therefore, seem to be met. It should be noted as well that the County has assured us that the system was properly installed in accordance with all codes (NFPA Standard No. 72 which is the basis for the installation of local signaling systems). The Fire Chief and Building Inspectors have toured the monitoring facility and viewed the equipment. The Building Inspector notes that it is a very sophisticated system capable of providing the necessary monitoring system. The Fire Chief has expressed similar comments and sees no problems with monitoring if the variance is granted. The County currently monitors the Government Center, the Adult Detention, the Welfare Building and the Southdale Libarary/Service Center on a 24 hour basis and will also monitor the Brookdale facility on the same basis. This is one of the paramount concerns in requiring either the City Police/Fire board monitoring or a UL approved central monitoring station. It assures that such monitoring will take place. It is the staff's opinion that the rationale for requiring a UL approved system for monitoring done by stations other than our local Police/Fire board is to assure that the systems were installed and are maintained in accordance with NFPA Standards and are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year so that in the event of a fire, the Fire Department can be notified immediately. For the most part, the City staff does not have the expertise to evaluate each system to assure they,in all cases,meet either NFPA Standard 71 for central signaling systems, or NFPA Standard 72 for local signaling systems. Proper installation, maintenance and testing, in addition to 24 hour monitoring,are the reasons for requiring the UL certification. The County appears to be able to meet the necessary requi,r,e- ments provided assurances can be made by conditionalizing the variance. Recommendation It is recommended that the variance be approved on the basis that the Standards for Fire Code Variances are met subject to the following conditions: 1. The system shall be maintained and tested in accordance with NFPA Standards. Results of the testing shall be supplied to the City of Brooklyn Center annually. 2. The Automatic Building Management System shall be continually monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week with notification given immediately to the Brooklyn Center Police Department (561-5720) if an emergency should arise. 6-25-81 -2- FREEWAY rE,"PROPOSED ZZ i ROADWAYS Ly PROPOSED BRIDGES mm cr CD Ro s sm ms � R5 i�