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Sprinklers will not have to be installed in townhouses and apartments located in developments that already have been platted, the village board has decided.
The decision will apply to the four developments that already are under construction in Hampshire - Tuscany Woods Unit 1, Lakewood Crossing, Hampshire Highlands and Crown Community Development’s Prairie Ridge Neighborhood O - plus Crown’s Neighborhoods N and S.
Under changes to the building code approved by the board in November, the village will require sprinklers in almost all new buildings except single-family houses. The new code even requires the builder of a single-family home to offer that option to the home buyer.
But on the request of the company that has taken over sales of the unsold townhouses in Tuscany Woods, the board agreed that developments which already had their plats and annexation agreements approved before the new sprinkler rule should be exempt.
Village Administrator Eric Palm said that while “it appears the village could enforce a sprinkler ordinance” even in these subdivisions, the legal situation is cloudy.
He said the annexation and development agreement for Tuscany Woods Unit 1 “speaks more or less to the existing building codes (that were in force at the time the development was approved) being applicable.”
Tuscany Woods Unit 1’s original developer, Pasquinelli Homes, defaulted on a mortgage for the project, and the development was taken over by Park National Bank. Last spring, the bank hired Gladstone Builders to market the existing finished and partly finished homes and townhouses there.
Gladstone vice president Adam Dontz told the village board that putting in sprinklers would add about $10,000 to the cost of a 1,500-square-foot townhouse. But board members questioned whether that figure was accurate. Officials of the Hampshire Fire Protection District had estimated the cost at $1 to $3 per square foot before the code change was passed in November, and Trustee George Brust said during last week’s village board meeting that contractors tell him the cost is about $1.75 per square foot.
The new code already says sprinklers will not be required for existing residential buildings, unless they undergo a major remodeling.
Dontz said after the meeting that since the Tuscany Woods sales resumed, two buyers have signed contracts for townhouses there, but no final sales closings have taken place.
Tags: Hampshire gives no-sprinkler nod to 4 developments