A safer Gig Harbor Community for all!

 

There is a Public Hearing at the city Council Meeting tonight.  

October 10, 2016  5:30pm  City Council Meeting
Chances are you knew nothing about it.
Why?

  Chances are the developers know about this and they will be speaking.

  The city says they want your opinion on residential fire sprinklers.

  Here is the history.

   

In June our fire department made a presentation to the council to upgrade fire safety.  

..  A video showed 2 rooms on fire.  One room had fire sprinklers the other did not.  In 2 minutes time the room without sprinklers was fully engulfed, no survival.  The room with sprinklers sustained minor damage.  More important life and property were saved.

...the GH Comprehensive plan says developers do not have to use the best quality material, it only has to look good.  Non natural materials burn more quickly and give off more toxic gasses. Materials inside homes burn quickly with toxic fumes.

....current zoning regulations allow houses to sit 20' or less apart.  Fire can easily spread.

.....sprinklers save water and the environment.

The recommendation from our fire department was to put fire sprinklers in the building code for NEW construction of single and 2 family houses ONLY  (New construction of multi family units have fire sprinklers). ..... The estimated cost would 1%.

   1% for saving the lives of healthy, non healthy, young, mature folks, animals and property.  Making it safer for our firefighters and saving water resources and the impact of fire to the environment.

Sounds like a great idea!  

Not so fast!

   After the fire department presentation....

.... the developers spoke.  

  Olympic Property Group, Rush Construction, other developers and the Master Builders Association ( WA state lobbying group)

  They did not dispute the saving of lives or resources.  

  Every single developer said they would not make as much money.  It was ALL about their money. It was all about their developer fees.

Then came the council vote:

  Council member Arbenz said "not that many people had died".  He was concerned about the developers profits.  He voted against safety and in support of developers profits.  The majority of the council supported developer profits over the safety of our community, respect for property, environment and our firefighters. October 10 5:30 PM City Council Meeting  PUBLIC HEARING   (as of 10/10 8am there was only a draft agenda online..things could change.)

  The proposal Oct 10th  is to require fire sprinklers in NEW single family and duplex homes ONLY.  When you look at the agenda materials it appears the developers have said they will not stand in the way of sprinklers as long as the city does not charge the developer fees. http://media.avcaptureall.com/session.html?sessionid=8fd0f4f6-2ad7-44d0-ab36-13ef15b1b578 
   The agenda material from the city administrator could indicate developer fees as high as $9,100.00.  Who will pay those fees?

   We need a safe community. Fire sprinklers are a good thing.  It is the job of our fire fighter heros to keep us safe.  When their hands are restricted because this city council puts the profits of developers before the safety of our community, that is not right.  Developers need to pay their own fees.

 The Council is waiting to hear your thoughts:  Molly Towslee  towsleem@cityofgigharbor.net

Thanks for sharing!!

Mayor and Council email addresses: guernseyj@cityofgigharbor.net paynet@cityofgigharbor.net kadzikp@cityofgigharbor.net perrowm@cityofgigharbor.net malichk@cityofgigharbor.net EkbergS@cityofgigharbor.net lovrovichr@cityofgigharbor.net arbenzc@cityofgigharbor.net 

Citizens for the Preservation of Gig Harbor  LLC C4GH: Citizens committed to making Gig Harbor better than we found it! JOIN US!! Sign up for email: citizensforgigharbor@gmail.com http://citizens4gigharbor.blogspot.com/ Give us a "like" on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Citizens4GigHarbor 

 Mayor and 4 council seats up for re-election in 2017!