Why Should Delaware Care?
Housing availability and affordability dominate local government conversations up and down the state. A new residential sprinkler system requirement in Dover has generated substantial attention, as stakeholders weigh the need for adequate safety measures against the potentially detrimental impacts on housing costs.
The Dover City Council is considering walking back a new construction code provision it adopted just last month requiring a residential sprinkler system in all new homes.
After a near-unanimous vote by city council to approve an updated 2024 residential building code — which includes the sprinkler requirement — in mid-October, a number of city council members said they are rethinking the decision due to hearing more about the potential impacts on housing prices.
And while local and national fire experts largely defend residential sprinkler requirements as necessary for peoples’ safety in more newly constructed, lighter weight homes, the measure has generated substantial pushback from a number of central Delaware home builders.
The builders, who have shown up at recent city council meetings to voice their frustration with not having been consulted about the requirement before council voted on it, argue the sprinklers will substantially raise housing prices, preventing more people from buying homes amid an already dire lack of affordable housing.
“We’re really concerned because what the city has done is impose yet another cost upon developers, which will eventually make its way to the home buyer,” said Patricia Kelleher, a director at the Dover-based affordable housing organization Neighborgood Partners.
A handful of other Delaware municipalities already have residential sprinkler requirements for newly constructed homes, including Lewes, Newark and Middletown.
At a meeting Monday evening, the council voted to rescind the updated code it approved last month, due to what city officials described as incorrect language in the recently adopted code.
Following the strike through of the just-adopted code, the city is scheduled to discuss taking up the updated code once again at a council committee meeting on Nov. 10.
City Fire Marshal Jason Osika wrote in a message to Spotlight Delaware that despite the reconsideration of the measure, he is still urging the city to adopt the complete 2024 International Residential Code (IRC), “without any amendments.”
However, Councilman David Anderson, who leads the city’s Legislative, Finance and Administration Committee — under which the code discussion falls — said it is “a bad time” for the sprinkler requirement adoption, and he intends to have the committee rethink it.
What is the requirement?
The controversial new sprinkler requirement is a part of the regulations outlined in the 2024 international building codes, which also include a number of less noteworthy updates to various building requirements, including for commercial buildings and fitness facilities.
Under the 2009 code, which the city of Dover was using until it approved the 2024 version this fall, sprinkler systems were required in most commercial buildings, while single-family homes were allowed to instead use a smoke detector system, which is less expensive.
The 2024 building code includes a sprinkler system requirement for all newly constructed one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses. While it does not require existing homes to be retrofitted, the city council approved an amendment that would require a sprinkler system if residents build an addition above a certain size to an existing home.
A home sprinkler system works to suppress flames at the fire source when triggered by a certain high temperature threshold, while a smoke detector functions to identify smoke particles and warn occupants through a loud sound.
While the city of Wilmington, for example, still uses the 2018 codes, other jurisdictions in the state have adopted the 2024 requirements.
Osika, the city fire marshal, described the code change, including the sprinkler provision, as “a life safety issue,” that needs updating because lightweight building materials, which are more commonly used in new construction, are more flammable than older construction materials.
National organizations like the National Fire Protection Association and U.S. Fire Administration recommend sprinklers for all new homes.
However, local stakeholders from a number of housing production-focused groups in the Dover area, including Neighborgood Partners, Central Delaware Habitat for Humanity and the Delaware Homebuilders’ Association have made their opposition to the requirement known through public comment at city council meetings and letters to city officials.
By many estimates, a sprinkler system costs between $8,000 and $10,000 to install in a medium-sized, single-family home. This, the home builders said, would price out 4,000 families from being able to afford a median-priced home in Delaware.
Mike Riemann, a Dover-based engineer and former president of the Delaware Homebuilders’ Association, said at the Oct. 26 Dover City Council meeting the requirement is a misplaced attempt at safety when there was not a single fire death in a home built over the past 25 years without a sprinkler system in New Castle County.
“Modern construction standards and hardwired interconnected smoke detectors already provide an extraordinary level of life safety,” he said. “A sprinkler cannot save the life that the smoke detector has already saved.”
Kelleher, the Neighborgood Partners director, said the added stipulations — and the costs they impose on both developers and homebuyers — will simply lead developers to instead build new homes in unincorporated Kent County, which does not have the sprinkler requirement.
City council moves forward
Despite the city council’s 8-1 vote in favor of the new building code, a number of council members said they may change their tune on the sprinklers after hearing from stakeholders in opposition.
Councilman Brian Lewis was the sole vote against adopting the requirements, citing concern with the cost “trickling down on the buyer.”
Following the council’s mid-October vote to approve the code requirements, a number of residents called for Mayor Robin Christiansen to veto the measure. Christiansen ultimately did not veto the ordinance, and he told Spotlight Delaware he would not consider vetoing an updated measure that includes the sprinkler system requirement.
In addition to concerns about the impact of the sprinklers on housing costs, local developers said they were frustrated to not have been included in any discussions of the code until after the council voted on it.
Anderson, the Legislative and Finance Committee chair, said he intends to bring those groups to the table for a conversation before making a final decision on the measure.
Council members Donyale Hall, Julia Pillsbury and Roy Sudler similarly said they were reconsidering the requirement after hearing pushback.
Sudler said he still wants to “balance life safety and economic hardship,” so he would like to create an exemption to the requisite for some housing types, such as detached single-family homes, modular units and affordable housing projects under 2,500 square feet in size.
City Council President Fred Neil, however, said he still believes the sprinkler system is important to building safety, and he is not in favor of dropping it from the code.
Council members Tricia Arndt, Andre Boggerty and Gerald Rocha did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment.
It remains to be seen whether a majority of city council members have changed their position to support the removal of the sprinkler requirement.
Get Involved:
Dover City Council’s Committee of the Whole will discuss the building code at 6 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, Nov. 10, inside Dover City Hall, located 15 Loockerman Plaza.
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
