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Exposure to carbon monoxide (CO), a colorless, odorless gas, can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, faintness, and, at high levels, death. Carbon monoxide (CO) may be present in residential occupancies as a result of sources of heat or energy created by fossil fuel or by the use of machinery or vehicles powered by fossil fuel, causing a significant risk to their occupants, as well as emergency services personnel who may come to their aid. This chapter is enacted for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the residents of the city, its visitors and employees, by requiring operable carbon monoxide detectors in existing residential occupancies and residential dwellings thereby hopefully reducing the number of injuries and fatalities resulting from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
(Ord. 2012-8, 2-7-2012)
The following terms as used in this chapter shall have the indicated meaning:
ATTACHED GARAGE: | An enclosed space for the parking or storage of one or more motor vehicles, which is physically a part of a residential occupancy by means of a common roof or wall. It shall not include any parking structure separated by an approved firewall without openings of any kind to the residential occupancy, including doors. |
BUILDING CODES: | The building, fire and other technical codes adopted pursuant to Title 16, Chapter 2. |
CO DETECTOR: | A device sensing invisible particles of carbon monoxide that is either battery powered or AC powered with battery backup that has been installed in accordance with its manufacturer's recommendations, which, when activated, will provide some form of visual or audible detector, and which has been either UL (Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.) listed or CSA (Canadian Standards Association) approved. |
CENTRALIZED FUEL FIRED APPLIANCE: | A fuel fired appliance, such as a hot water heater or boiler, that serves more than one dwelling unit or sleeping room within a multiple dwelling. |
DWELLING UNIT: | Any building or portion thereof designed, occupied, or intended as a residence, with complete and independent living facilities for one or more persons including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation. |
FOSSIL FUEL: | Includes coal, natural gas, kerosene, oil, propane and wood. |
FUEL FIRED APPLIANCES: | Any appliance that burns a fossil fuel of any type including, but not limited to, boilers, furnaces, heaters, fireplaces, stoves, ranges, clothes dryers, barbecues and engines. |
OCCUPANT: | An individual in lawful occupancy of a residential dwelling or dwelling unit, which shall be the owner in the case of an owner occupied residential dwelling, or the tenant, where such tenant is the primary lessee or renter of a residential dwelling or dwelling unit. |
RESIDENTIAL DWELLING: | Any building or portion thereof containing one or more dwelling units occupied as, or designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families, including single-family dwellings, two-family dwellings, and multiple-family dwellings as such terms are defined in Title 15. |
RESIDENTIAL OCCUPANCIES: | A. Any of the following uses as such terms are defined in Title 15: 1. Residential facilities for elderly persons or residential facilities for persons with a disability; 2. Mobile homes, manufactured homes; 3. Hotels, motels, boarding houses, short-term rentals, bed and breakfast inns, single room occupancies; 4. Fraternity or sorority houses, bachelor or bachelorette dwelling units, educational institutions with housing; 5. Assisted living facilities, nursing homes, retirement homes; 6. Protective housing facilities, rehabilitation treatment facilities, whether licensed or unlicensed, transitional housing facilities, shelters for the homeless; and 7. Adult daycare facilities, daycare centers, nurseries for children. B. Any residential occupancy or any institutional occupancy with sleeping units as such terms are defined in the building codes. C. Any other occupancy used for sleeping purposes. |
SEPARATE SLEEPING AREA: | Bedrooms or sleeping rooms separated by other use areas, such as a kitchen or living room, but not including bathrooms. |
SLEEPING UNIT:
| A room or space in which people sleep, which can also include permanent provisions for living, eating, and either sanitation or kitchen facilities but not both. |
(Ord. 2016-61, 12-20-2016; amd. Ord. 2024-12, 5-7-2024)
A. All existing residential occupancies and residential dwellings, containing fuel fired appliances or having attached garages, shall be equipped with CO detectors in accordance with the requirements of this chapter.
B. The owner of a residential occupancy shall be responsible to:
1. Install and maintain required CO detector(s) in such residential occupancy in accordance with the requirements of this chapter;
2. Test and replace all batteries necessary for operation of a required CO detector; and
3. Immediately repair or replace any defective CO detector required under the provisions of this chapter.
C. The occupant of a residential dwelling or dwelling unit constructed prior to 2005 shall:
1. Install and maintain CO detector(s) in such residential dwelling in accordance with the requirements of this chapter.
2. Test and replace all batteries necessary for operation of a required CO detector; and
3. Immediately repair or replace any defective CO detector required under the provisions of this chapter.
D. The owner of a residential dwelling or dwelling unit constructed after 2004 shall install and maintain CO detector(s) in accordance with the requirements of the building codes.
E. A tenant in possession of a residential dwelling or dwelling unit constructed after 2004 shall be responsible for:
1. Testing and replacing any batteries necessary for operation of a required CO detector;
2. Informing the owner of a CO detector malfunction; and
3. Repairing or replacing a defective CO detector in the event that the defective condition was caused by the tenant, the tenant's family, or the tenant's guests or invitees, by inappropriate use or misuse of the dwelling or dwelling unit during the rental term or any extension of it.
(Ord. 2012-8, 2-7-2012)
A. CO detector(s) shall be centrally located outside of each separate sleeping area in the immediate vicinity of the bedrooms or sleeping rooms. Residential occupancies and residential dwellings shall be considered to be in compliance with this requirement if CO detectors are installed as follows:
1. Within a dwelling unit, on the ceiling or wall outside of each separate sleeping area within twenty feet (20') of any door leading to a bedroom or sleeping room;
2. Where sleeping units, or more than six (6) dwelling units, share a common hallway, on the ceiling or wall of the common hallway within forty feet (40') of any door leading to a dwelling unit or a sleeping unit; and
3. Within any sleeping unit where a CO detector is not located in the adjacent common hallway in accordance with subsection A2 of this section.
B. A residential occupancy or residential dwelling shall be considered to be in compliance with subsection A of this section, if CO detectors are installed and located in accordance with building codes in effect on January 1, 2007.
C. It is the intention of this chapter to implement the requirements of the existing building codes, including NFPA 720, effective February 7, 2005, to the greatest extent practicable for existing residential occupancies and residential dwellings. The building official or the fire marshal may approve alternative locations or methods for the installation of CO detectors, if the result would meet the spirit and intent of the building codes and NFPA 720. The building official, in coordination with the fire marshal, may also adopt written guidelines illustrating or describing required locations of CO detectors, and any approved alternative locations or methods for bringing residential occupancies and residential dwellings into compliance with the requirements of this chapter.
D. A CO detector is deemed approved for purposes of this chapter if it complies with all applicable state and federal regulations, and bears the label of a nationally recognized standard testing laboratory and meets the revised standard of at least UL 2034 dated October 1, 1995, and subsequent revision or its equivalent.
E. Each CO detector will be mounted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, though ceiling mounting is preferred. CO detectors will not be mounted in areas of low air movement (dead air spaces).
F. If a CO detector is required to be installed in a common hallway:
1. Any CO detector found to be tampered with shall be replaced with a hard wired device (missing or inoperable batteries shall not constitute tampering).
2. Any CO detector found to be missing a battery shall be replaced with a tamperproof CO detector with a sealed battery.
(Ord. 2012-8, 2-7-2012)
A. It shall be unlawful for any owner or tenant of a residential occupancy or residential dwelling to fail to install and maintain an operable CO detector when required under the provisions of this chapter.
B. It shall be unlawful for any person to remove or render ineffective a CO detector installed to satisfy the requirements of this chapter. This provision shall not apply to a building owner, manager, tenant, or his/her agent in the normal procedure of repairing or replacing a CO detector.
C. No person shall, without privilege to do so, knowingly move, deface, damage, destroy or otherwise improperly tamper with a CO detector required to be installed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter so as to destroy or diminish its effectiveness or availability for its intended purpose.
(Ord. 2012-8, 2-7-2012)
The building official and the fire chief, or their designees, shall monitor compliance with this chapter and may perform enforcement inspections upon, but not limited to, the following instances: when notified of a change in occupancy; when reviewing or inspecting the construction, repair, rehabilitation or renovation of the interior of a residential occupancy pursuant to a required permit; when inspecting for the purpose of compliance with the good landlord incentive program; when inspecting for any other purpose under the provisions of this code; or when on the premises for any lawful purpose, including, but not limited to, such purposes as responding to a fire or other request for fire department services.
(Ord. 2012-8, 2-7-2012)
A. Infraction: A violation of the provisions of this chapter is an infraction and upon conviction shall be punishable as set forth in title 1, chapter 4, article A of this code.
B. Civil Penalties: Owners and tenants who fail to correct a violation of the provisions of this chapter applicable to them after notice of violation and expiration of the warning period shall be subject to a civil penalty in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) pursuant to title 1, chapter 4, article B of this code; provided that such penalty will be suspended if the responsible party shows evidence of compliance within thirty (30) days of issuance of the civil citation.
C. Other Remedies: This chapter may also be enforced by injunction, mandamus, judicial abatement or any other appropriate action in law or equity.
D. Daily Violations: Each day that any violation of this chapter continues shall be considered a separate offense for purposes of the penalties and remedies available to the city.
E. Compliance: Accumulation of penalties for violations, but not the obligation for payment of penalties already accrued, shall stop on correction of the violation.
F. Cumulative: Any one, all, or any combination of the foregoing penalties and remedies may be used to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
G. Civil Actions: A violation of this chapter shall not be deemed by virtue of such violation to constitute evidence of negligence or contributory negligence or comparative negligence in any civil action or proceeding for damages. A violation of this chapter shall also not constitute a defense in any civil action or proceeding involving a claim on an insurance policy.
(Ord. 2012-8, 2-7-2012)