(a) In this Section, fire sprinkler system means equipment that includes 1 or more devices that:
1. open automatically by operation of a heat-responsive releasing mechanism;
2. discharge water in a specific pattern over a designated area to extinguish or control fire;
3. use the same service water supply pipe to the building that the domestic water system uses;
4. meet the requirements of current National Fire Protection Association standards as modified by the Director of Fire and Rescue Services; and
5. are approved by the Director of Fire and Rescue Services.
(b) The County must not issue a building permit for the construction or reconstruction of any residential building unless the plans include the installation in each dwelling unit and any attached accessory structure of a fire sprinkler system.
(c) The County Executive must issue regulations to implement this Section. The regulations may authorize the Director to approve the use of specific construction alternatives that provide equivalent or greater protection of the public in residential buildings in which fire sprinkler systems will be installed.
(d) After inspection and final approval of a fire sprinkler system required under this Section, the inspector must provide to the initial occupant of the dwelling unit written information approved by the Fire Administrator about the proper care and maintenance of a residential fire sprinkler system. If the dwelling unit has never been occupied, the builder or other current owner must not accept payment or rent for the unit until the inspector has transmitted this fire sprinkler information to the initial occupant. The Fire Administrator must make the information widely available to residents who purchase or lease a previously occupied unit with an installed fire sprinkler system, and other County residents. (1987 L.M.C., ch. 8, § 1; 1990 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 1; 2003 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 1.)
Editor's note—2003 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 2, states: Transition. The amendments to Section 8-29A of the Code made by this Act apply to residential building permits issued on or after January 1, 2004.
Section 8-29A was repealed by 1980 L.M.C., ch. 45, § 1. Subsequently, 1987 L.M.C., ch. 8, § 1, added a new § 8-29A. Section 2 of 1990 L.M.C., ch. 24, reads as follows:
(a) § 8-29A(d), as added by Section 1, applies to any detached single-family dwelling unit for which an application for a building permit is filed on or after July 1, 1990.
(b) § 8-29A(b), as amended by Section 1, applies to any group home for which an application for a building permit is filed on or after July 1, 1990.
(c) The builder must install a fire sprinkler system that complies with § 8-29A(e), as added by Section 1, in any primary sales model detached single-family dwelling unit which is shown to prospective buyers for sales purposes on or after July 1, 1990.