By John Howell Sr.

Building and fire code questions consumed almost one-half hour during the November 6 meeting of Batesville’s mayor and aldermen and required a special call meeting again on Friday, addressing questions about commercial building renovation and expansion.

Tuesday’s discussion arose from Dr. Billy Haire’s remodeling of the old Elise’s Florist building on the Square for the new location of his medical practice clinic. The city’s codes require a commercial vent hood system with a fire suppression system in ovens placed in commercial buildings. Remodeling plans call for a kitchen in the clinic.

Friday’s meeting was triggered when application for a permit to expand Big Delta Honda ran into a requirement that a fire sprinkler system be installed in the existing square footage as well as in the new construction.

“They added on to their building two years ago, and the sprinkling system didn’t come up; they added on to it now and it’s come up, and they’re just concerned as to why,” Alderman Stan Harrison said, speaking to Batesville Fire Marshal Brett Childs.

“Because two years ago when it was added on to, I was not made aware of this,” Childs replied. “Had I known about it, I would have written up, ‘Needs to be sprinkled’ at that point.”

“There’s some communication problem somewhere because I was told that they were told that they were going to have to sprinkle the new part and go back and sprinkle the old part,” Alderman Teddy Morrow said.

Childs told the mayor and aldermen that according to the International Fire Code, no sprinklers are required in the office area of the building unless the square footages of areas of the building with more hazardous classifications exceed 12,000 square feet.

“Once you reach the 12,000 square foot threshold (for areas of the building classified as hazardous) then the entire building housing that occupancy-type has to be sprinkled,” Childs said.

“Including the front?” Alderman Eddie Nabors asked.

“Including the business (the office area),” Childs said. “The square footage of the business occupancy didn’t factor in as to whether it needed to be sprinkled, but once the other two types of occupancies reached their thresholds, then everything in that building has to be sprinkled,” the fire marshal continued.

“Unless they do fire-rated construction separating the business from the other uses. If they build a two-hour-rated fire wall, separating those occupancy types, then the business wouldn’t have to be sprinkled, just the manufacturing and storage portions. Without the fire-rated construction, everything in the footprint of that building has to be sprinkled.”

Batesville Fire Department training officer Cowles Horton joined Childs, code administrator Pam Comer, and code enforcement officers John McCollum and Andy Berryhill in a discussion with aldermen about Batesville’s permitting process, including:

•A handbook published by the Olive Branch code office given to any building permit applicant detailing the number and types of plans required and the fees associated with the permitting process.

“I think we need to hand that to people who walk in the front door,” the mayor said;

•Discussion of whether disputed requirements in the building and fire codes be sent to an outside agency for clarification.

•“There is a process, … it’s called an appeals process,” McCollum said. “Y’all are the appeals board.”

 “Have y’all had that asked of you much in the last few years?” Harrison asked.

“No, when there’s a dispute in the last couple of years, it goes around us and goes to the mayor or one of y’all, and that’s how we find out something is wrong,” McCollum said.

“Any decision is appealable, that’s what our legal system is based on,” assistant City Attorney Colmon Mitchell said.

The elected officials told Comer to see that notice of the appeals process is posted prominently in the code office building.