Over the past year I’ve heard from hundreds of District 3 residents who are alarmed about the city’s 2022 Fire Sprinkler Mandate. I wanted to take a moment to share the progress we’ve been making on bringing transparency, structure, and relief to this situation.

 

Background: A Flawed Mandate

In 2022, the Fire Sprinkler Mandate was introduced by the former District 3 Supervisor. It passed shortly after with almost no public input. Just 3 individuals gave public comment when this item was heard.

The mandate touches 125 buildings throughout the city. In my district alone, about 7,000 residents are impacted. It required many existing pre-1975 residential high rises to be retrofitted with automatic sprinklers in every unit.

As the legislation was considered, no analysis was provided, no financial support was offered, and no protections around tenant displacement were included.

In fact, the most recent substantial research done on the matter was from 2016 and made clear what a significant undertaking such a mandate would be. It noted that no other major U.S. city had such a requirement, that costs could be unmanageable, that other fire safety measures should be considered instead, and that any consideration should be paired with a robust package of financial assistance and tenant displacement and relocation protections.

Simply put, this guidance was ignored when the mandate was passed in 2022. Since then there has been no meaningful followup work done beside a few scattered mailed notices.

 

Our Response: Real Progress

We immediately worked alongside District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill to listen to impacted residents and understand our options. We knew there were better ways to still advance the important goal of fire safety but also to lessen the crushing financial and displacement concerns brought by the mandate.

We’ve held more than a dozen meetings with impacted residents, organized town halls and worked closely with the Fire Department to craft a number of changes.

Last week, before a crowd of more than 200 residents, we worked with the Land Use Committee to move forward a 5-year delay on the mandate. Today, that legislation passed the full Board of Supervisors. I know the delay alone isn’t enough, but it’s an important first step. It will give everyone more time and a chance to weigh the next steps. . 

 

What’s Next: More to Come

We will continue to work to bring more transparency and relief to the mandate. Working alongside Supervisor Sherrill, we introduced legislation today to form a Technical Advisory Council. This council will recommend standards for exemptions from the mandate for financial hardships, building constraints, and alternative means to improving fire safety. We have also engaged the city’s Budget & Legislative Analyst for an updated study of the impact of the mandate. I also want to thank the Fire Department, who has committed to specific resources and more personnel to work closely with building owners to guide them through questions and begin to consider exemptions.

We know this mandate continues to cause great anxiety and financial burden. I’m happy that we’ve been able to secure some initial progress and will continue to work closely with the thousands of District 3 residents who have been impacted.

- Supervisor Danny Sauter