001we'll start with a roll call David iron story Paul darling yeah Q flack Bob Hart ken winters staff Glenn Dempsey mark Howell you're Krystal Markham Michael Redmond we have quorum yeah so what we should do first is see a motion to have a sitting chairman for this meeting since between the four of us of you I think the microphones are off also yeah there you go okay so I see microphones I know if you're watching in the meantime you're finished filling out your oath of office cards it's fine they're not wonderful okay thank you very much okay sure after the move to approve the agenda second you know motion motion to approve ii was a favor I was are approved appeals in action and show cause hearings the first item on the agenda is BBA
0021900 to at 1213 West Washington Street and ever Michigan is there someone here to speak on that bhop you please come up and sign in Steve your name there's no sign she can get you on the desk and tell us a little about your peel hi my name is Chris Allen I'm the architect for the project you're representing the owners don ste going in that Asli it's a product is an existing single-family home you're doing a renovation in addition home and it's part of the product they want to enlarge the kitchen window and show you about an opportunity to look at the information the window right now is a smaller sized window would window older casement style and they went to enlarge the window the window is the wall is two feet four inches from
003the property line therefore according to the code openings are such are not allowed however they they - we're proposing a one hour rated window you all tested and approved by fire tech it's a steel window has ceramic glass in it again one hour rated the wall is required to have a one hour rating at that distance therefore we believe the window being equivalent at one hour will provide the one hour barrier that we need in that location I've talked the manufacturer they send a lot of these whittles of California where you know you have wildfires and such so there are other areas where this window is used I think for similar situations I think we have a situation here where we're not increasing than that form we're actually making something more safe well you could
004soon windows unrated and would the new window will be steel and rated with ceramic glass would be one our rating so I I think what we're doing here is making this area more safe so I'm hoping the building Board of Appeals will consider that I think that's what we had Building Board of Appeals for situations just like this where we have a situation where I'm not proposing something out of the blue or designing something that I'm coming up with this is a you all tested assembly that's one are rated for similar situations and just I think it's more safe don't they have their right now so that's the extent of my comments the gist of what I want to propose or saving a building Board of Appeals and okay at this point I can have
005a discussion back and forth or do I sit down or what do you so the next step would be while a staff recommendation report my name is Mark Holland the deputy building official city of Ann Arbor as mr. Allen just stated the applicant is in the process of designing a renovation project at the 1213 West Washington they wish to enlarge an existing non-conforming opening a window on the first floor of the West elevation the non-conformance is due to the fact that the existing window is within two feet four inches of the property line this is in violation of table r3o 2.1 one of the two zero one five michigan residential code which governs the project the table states no openings are allowed on a wall that has a fire separation distance of less than three
006feet code interpretation for the 2015 Michigan residential code appendix J section H a five zero one alterations AJ five zero one point two non-conformities the work shall not increase the extent of non-compliance or create nonconformity due to those requirements that did not previously exist staff recommendation staff recommends not improving the enlargement of the existing non-conforming opening as as it would produce a larger hazard to the occupants due to the openings proximity to the property line as a not code compliant fire separation distance at least 3 feet openings whether the glazing is fire rated or not would not be allowed within 3 feet of the property line this would not be an equivalent or better form of construction as it is not allowed the board has any questions for the applicant oh um would you have
007any objection if the window wasn't an operable window but a fixed window I would have no objection to being a fixed window okay mm the other question I have is has the window been tested or is there any documentation that this particular window was tested as part of a wall assembly I don't know I only have the manufacturer information I don't know the what this testing method was okay would you be averse to using another manufacturer they can do you know provide the same capabilities no assuming you have one in mind well I don't want to I don't want a prejudice mmm your your decision on things Oh tell you that what I have in mind or what I've come across will you know fit your particular situation I guess the way I understand after
008sort of researching this a little bit the way I understand this is that if if if this is considered part of a wall assembly and it's not subject to being classified as a protected opening or a window or an opening protective that you can in fact have a glazed condition at a lot line window I mean it it happens all the time you know and I think previously we've agreed to allow to have certain line windows installed usually it's in a commercial building where there's a sprinkler system that's that's backing it up but I'd the way I the way I understood this is that if if the window assembly is tested as part of a rated wall assembly that that would provide the equivalent fire rating protection as the rated wall without a window without
009we're nope no openings are are permitted the challenges you're gonna have a hard time finding a rating we could find one but it may be difficult well there they're putting drywall on the inside of the existing yeah well I guess that's the question in putting the the drywall on the lot line wall let's say was that something that improved the rating of the wall have brought the wall up to code or how did that part come about well was it cheddar on the interior side of the wall yeah yeah I mean we want to make the wall see it was in five feet so we want to make that as fireproof as possible so we decide to go the five inch setbacks on that wall so you did the building apartment except that as having
010created a proper rate and just got us permits so I didn't see any comment so I can't say whether or not there were comments about that but we did receive a building permit when those drawings so a package afford you're putting it when I wall type acts we were also done in the past in the play with the commercial was is that the adjacent was happening in the adjacent property their building was three feet apart behind the risk of fire spreading has increased the fact that the adjacent house has a fairly good-sized yard their open space not that they couldn't build closer to the property line the risk of fire spurred one of the other is is reduced so that was my next question is the 31 feet or the 30 feet that's from the
011one house to to this property line is that is that an unbuildable zone is that this that equivalent of a like a rear yard setback except if the zoning doesn't permit you to get that close anymore right I guess that's my question is that is the whatever building that's right along that property line but on the other property is it constrained by the fact that they can approach on that 30-foot yeah line because if they can't yeah I mean in effect you've got you know now there's like my size maybe could be five or ten we were also done in the past is that something happens in adjacent property you make modify your window they can bring it up to code little tricky to do yeah they have a garage on the south side of
012their house right now in a fairly large house so under satellite image you can see that so could they build something over that way yeah highly unlikely though I think Bay this and what they have right now yeah so now you're kind of looking over there a fairly sizable side yard or what yeah is there a fence between those two right now yeah bustable fence or no fence there's no fence where the window is as you head towards the rear yard though there is a fence there okay probably back all right yeah and that's the fence owned by the 1213 property I believe so yeah it almost looks like that fence is owned by the 12:13 property yeah yeah and the site might even see the existing fences with in their property line area so
013it sounds like a window that can't be open but well yeah I mean typically the way the way the way I understand it again is that if it's a fixed piece if it's a fixed rated window but it's part of a rated wall assembly it's it would be fine the problem is that that this wall assembly that's even though it's being improved may not have a rating and it may not be any test for an existing stud wood stud wall that's got you know just the player of try what is it plaster now I probably having a fire one one side of of the wall being rated because then you start getting into like preferred ratings or situations which is that which is the fire side and which isn't and you know and I think
014the idea here is to protect it from the external side so the code I sound like the code we've written so that you don't transfer the fire from your house to the neighbor next door could be both it could be either way or even it doesn't determine if to speak to that yeah yeah I would have a lot more confidence in the window if it if it was a fixed window just so you're not relying on a being closed in a firing application well on a fusible link or what have you to actually activate the window and you know over time who knows how reliable little dirt in the wrong spot or a little courage in the wrong spot well yeah yeah yeah so yeah we're gonna do a fixed window okay makes this amenable
015and just once again we we don't know whether the yard between 1215 and this property is a sacrosanct setback that like like a rear yard we can't face is Washington so because they Street two streets right it's gonna have to two fronts so so it's this sense of yeah I don't know is that a V reside in the drear's you know it's gonna be pretty hard to go in there so 1215 applied for in addition to the side of their house with the building department possibly pick up the fact that you know we have that you know Pole comply up with a smaller window in or no window take the window out it would be fully compliant I mean there are residential sprinkler systems to to put once but where essential think ahead in there
016two of you worried about it from burning from one to the other side protection and unfortunately the stove is on the same wall there's no window there though is that helps you don't have any issues with the second-floor addition no yeah we set that back five feet to avoid several issues such as this one okay yes I moved that in the matter of BBA 1900 to the appeal for variance from the 2015 Michigan residential code table are three oh two point one parentheses one for the proposed renovation project at 1213 West Washington is granted because the Board finds that maintaining the existing non-conforming window rather than enlarging it has proposed results an exceptional practical difficulty to the applicant and the owners and the verb board further finds that the performance of the proposed and large
017window will be adequate for its intended use provided that it is a fixed rated glazing assembly and in that regard does not substantially deviate from the performance required by the code for the health safety and welfare of the people of this state and that the specific condition claimed by the applicant the owners that justifies the variance would be considered neither general nor recurrent in nature second any discussion I think it was Jessica light is okay okay Marisa I just wondered if you want to include that as well we make sense sure 60 minute 45 minute um 60 minute mom it was Paul's a 60 minutes we'll do a 60-minute a 60 minutes Radia [Music] putting in this any limitations and the fact that there's a large open yard next to it something happens with that
018yard that's kind of weighing you know a factor that it's not juice there's nothing you know a prison rest right next to it I probably would if I had a no-confidence that 30 yard setback would be maintained I mean we did this previously only we need 30 feet we would just need about three and we needed six feet because it's three feet off either side of the property line though let me take six feet from here the Indian Jason structure yeah but without really exactly what's required there we don't know well I mean they're saying three feet is there the quote came up with the three people wouldn't read so we double that that's tough also you could probably anything within they could build something on their side without long so not within right but
019unless we somehow put some limitation in their deed there's no way to empower I think we can I don't know that we can start putting limitations on yeah we've had to mean it so that the applicant has to bring it up in the pilot code if something does happen and adjacent property which is also difficult to enforce enforce or come back right yeah I mean I think this is reasonable as I think this is a reasonable approach as it is it doesn't seem to me that we make we don't make the situation worse fact we actually probably make it better so the only the only addendum to item B would be the provision that he rated that the window assembly be fixed and rated to a 60 minute rating get a second so those in
020favor anyone opposed the motion is passed great thank you very much your consideration appreciate it business reports and communications the public commentary we have a butcher from Jordan second those in favor I should say you