§ 78-63. Fire protection system for multifamily houses, trailer or mobile home camps, commercial properties.

(a)

Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this section, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this subsection, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Auto trailers, mobile homes or relocatable homes means vehicles designed to be used as homes or as living facilities which are movable or relocatable from one premises to another.

Commercial property means all property situated upon lots or plots of land within the city in which any type of business or warehousing is carried on or transacted.

Multifamily house, where located on any lot or plot of ground within the limits of the city, means a building designed for or occupied as a residence and having three or more dwelling units under one roof.

Owner of property means the owner of an apartment house project, trailer camp or commercial property who is declared to be any person who:

(1)

Holds and declares that such person is the owner of the lot or plot of land;

(2)

Returns the lot or plot of land for taxation;

(3)

Has a recorded deed to the lot or plot of land;

(4)

Is a lessor or lessee of the lot or plot of land; or

(5)

Acts as agent in behalf of the owner, lessor or lessee of the property.

Person who controls the property means any person who acts in any regard for any person who has an interest in the property.

Trailer camp means any area used for the accommodation of two or more auto trailers, mobile homes or relocatable homes used as living facilities of two or more families, couples or any number of individuals.

(b)

Duty to provide system. Any person who manages or controls any multifamily house, trailer camp or mobile home camp with ten or more dwelling units or commercial properties exceeding 10,000 square feet gross area, shall at such person's expense provide the following:

(1)

Fire hydrants which shall be so located that all parts of any building on the premises of this owner of private property are within 500 feet of one or more fire hydrants as measured along the center of paved driveways or streets, public or private.

(2)

Access to all fire hydrants via driveways which shall be not less than 20 feet in width and shall have minimum radii of 32 feet.

(3)

Reasonable accessibility of the width and radii and maintain them 24 hours a day to allow the firefighting equipment of the city to enter upon the premises to effectively fight such fire or conflagration.

(c)

Maintenance of accessibility. The owners of the properties described in this section shall take such protective measures as may be necessary to maintain the accessibility in width and turning radii, whether it be by parking devices, by fencing, by watchpersons or otherwise.

(d)

Installation. Installation of the fire protection system shall be under the supervision of and shall conform to the standards of the department of water, including the following:

(1)

Type of hydrants, valves and meters;

(2)

Type of pipe; and

(3)

Arrangement of system, including size of pipe, dead end, loop or gridiron system of water mains.

(e)

Performance test.

(1)

Tests of the department of fire protection system, including hydrants, valves and water supply, shall be conducted by the department of fire and rescue with periodic frequency conforming to the practices of the department of fire and rescue.

(2)

The fire protection systems shall be maintained in conformance with standards of the fire and rescue department. If, upon tests, defects are discovered, the property owner or person who controls the property shall repair any defects within five days of notice from the fire and rescue department to the owner or person who controls the property.

(3)

If after five days the defects have not been repaired, the city or a city designee may go onto the property and repair the fire protection systems with no additional notice to the property owner or person who controls the property.

(4)

In the event the repairs are made by the city or its designee, the city shall bill the property owner or person who controls the property for repairs and shall be authorized to seek a judgment against the property owner and thereafter place a lien on the property if payment is not made within ten days.

(5)

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as giving the fire department or fire and rescue department employees any additional authority to enter into any buildings.

(f)

Water supply. When the water supply is to be furnished by other than the city water distribution system, this water supply shall be subject to the approval of the department of water.

(g)

Nonconforming property declared fire hazard. Any of the property described in this section which is not in conformity with this section is declared to be a fire hazard.

(h)

Posting property constituting fire hazard. The fire chief is authorized to conspicuously post the property described in this section with a sign four feet by four feet reading:

THIS PROPERTY CONSTITUTES A

SPECIAL HAZARD IN EVENT OF FIRE.

ATLANTA FIRE CHIEF

All signs in place on the adoption date of this Code that complied with section 11-3032 of the 1977 edition of the Code of Ordinances, City of Atlanta, Georgia are ratified and confirmed.

(i)

Noncompliance. Noncompliance with this section shall be dealt with in the following manner:

(1)

The fire chief or a deputy shall inspect each property within the city limits to determine compliance or noncompliance.

(2)

Upon determination being made of noncompliance, the fire chief or a deputy is authorized and directed to charge the owner, the person in control or the person who manages the property with a violation of this section.

(j)

Determination of property as fire hazard by court. The court may, upon hearing the evidence of any charges so made, determine the property a fire hazard within the terms of this section and order the property closed until the terms of this section are complied with or may subject the persons responsible for the violation to punishment as provided in section 1-8.

(Code 1977, § 11-3032; Ord. No. 1999-46, 5-26-99; Ord. No. 2004-74, § 2, 10-20-04)