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State Land Use Enacted Legislation

Bill # State Year Party Topic

SB 5491

WA 2023 D Building code reform

Provided by Furman

Summary

  • Allows city and county governing bodies to adopt amendments to their building codes for multifamily housing units served by a single exit, granted they meet certain conditions that include, but are not limited to:
    • The building is no more than five stories.
      • The building does not have more than six stories above grade plane.
      • The building does not contain a boarding house.
      • The building does not have more than four dwellings on any floor.
      • The building is constructed with not less than one-hour fire-resistive construction and is equipped with an automatic sprinkler system.
      • There are no more than two single exit stairway conditions on the same property for buildings four stories tall or higher.
      • An exterior stairway or interior exit stairway is provided.
    • Requires cities that are planning to adopt building codes for multifamily housing units served by a single exit to meet certain criteria prior, including:
      • The city must be served by a municipal fire department or district.
        • The city does not currently have a development restriction due to lack of fire flow capacity.

Provided by lawmakers

Bill Title

An act relating to allowing for residential buildings of a certain height to be served by a single exit under certain conditions.

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