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REGULAR MEETING March 11, 2019
<br /> are required by the Code, that would be a separate consideration but those are things that,
<br /> obviously,they would have to comply with in order to operate the facility.That would be a separate
<br /> arm. The Fire Marshal would enforce those. We will be developing the property consistent with
<br /> all of those applicable laws and regulations.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden followed up, Related to that,then,the applicable law and regulation
<br /> is seventy (70) square feet, per the information you shared, per person for sleeping and habitable
<br /> space, is that your understanding?
<br /> Mr. Bondack replied, Yes.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked, So, that is the current requirement.
<br /> Mr. Bondack replied, Yeah, the information, I think, was seventy (70) which would allow up to
<br /> twenty-five (25) in that space but they made a commitment to limit it to twenty(20).
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked, How do you get to the calculation of twenty-five (25)? This
<br /> does get to occupancy for health and safety reasons, that is why I am going down this line of
<br /> questioning. How do you get to twenty-five (25)?
<br /> Mr. Bondack replied,The architect would have to answer that question.That is not a legal question
<br /> for me to calculate.
<br /> Mr. Gerrard replied, I did talk to the architect. He took the total square footage of the building,
<br /> with the information we received from the Fire Marshal here in South Bend, seventy (70) square
<br /> feet, per person, per head, with the building, came out to twenty-five (25). We reduced that down
<br /> to twenty(20) and that will be the maximum.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M.Broden stated,My understanding is that is not just simple math on the entire
<br /> living space, if you would, or sleeping space, it is on a per-bedroom requirement.
<br /> Mr. Gerrard replied,You are correct.You have two(2)different coves in the building. It is seventy
<br /> (70) square feet, per head, per individual, in the sleeping space. Going through the divisional one
<br /> (1) and divisional two (2) that this type of building and other comparable buildings fall under, in
<br /> your area, they use one hundred and twenty (120) square feet per head. They use your entire
<br /> building. They don't take out the common areas, hallways or anything. So, you do have two (2)
<br /> different sets of standards here. Seventy (70) square feet for sleeping space, one hundred and
<br /> twenty (120) square feet per the entire building. Both of those delivered twenty-five (25) people
<br /> maximum. Once again, we backed it down to twenty(20)beds maximum. We know we are under
<br /> both of those sets of codes we have.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, I would contend you are still overstating what you can do in
<br /> this space in terms of its safe, livability and over-night standards. When you look at the per-room
<br /> square footage,ok? I'm not talking about the whole. Your occupancy level appears to exceed what
<br /> the livable overnight space would allow, per person.
<br /> Mr. Bondack replied, The commitment is for no more than twenty (20). Through the permitting
<br /> process,the Fire Marshal, if there are any limitations to not allow for twenty(20) occupants,those
<br /> regulations and laws would kick in and be enforced.
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, Here is the difficulty I have with the commitment as you've
<br /> written it. At twenty (20), in some ways, if the Council approves that, there is almost a stamp of
<br /> approval thinking this is a habitable working situation. So, I guess what I would like to do is rather
<br /> than you saying you were at twenty-five (25) when you first (1St) started this, came before us and
<br /> said twenty (20), and now you are firmly at twenty (20), I really think that we should be in
<br /> agreement on, whatever that per-person space is allowed under Fire and Life-Safety Standards in
<br /> the State of Indiana. If it is seventy (70) square feet per-person, I would rather be specific about
<br /> defined habitable overnight sleeping space. The reason I think this is really important to get at is
<br /> because it has implications for how we review and look at any other space within the State of
<br /> Indiana. I mean, within our City. So, if you have a bedroom that is measured to be one hundred
<br /> and thirty-five (135) square feet, that really is not room for two (2) people, it's really only room
<br /> for one(1)person. I see that consistent within this is just the need to be very specific,not referring
<br /> to an occupancy high or something that has been moved down in response to public process,but I
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