Advisory 25-04


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Temporary Warming and Cooling Shelters

 

In conjunction with General Information Notice (GIN 25-03) issued by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, enclosed, this advisory provides direction on the permitting and modification process for the “opening” of temporary warming or cooling shelters for the local Building Official. This type of occupancy is a temporary change of use to R-1 (congregate living facility) for the space.

It clarifies that all temporary warming and cooling shelters with sleeping accommodations within existing, nonresidential, non-sprinklered occupancies are required to be reviewed and approved by the State Building Inspector through the building code modification process under Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) 29-254. Such temporary shelters typically consist of a temporary change of use under the Connecticut State Building Code (CSBC) and may lack some of the required provisions of the code for transient sleeping in existing, nonresidential, non-sprinklered buildings.

The State Building Inspector may approve a modification allowing the temporary change of use of an existing, non-residential, non-sprinklered building to a Group R-1 (congregate living facility) occupancy, provided that the modification application includes a floor plan demonstrating compliance with the eight (8) required criteria listed below. 

  1. Buildings in consideration shall be of noncombustible (Type I or II) construction OR shall be of any other construction type where the sleeping area(s) are separated from other areas of the building by minimum of a one (1) hour fire barrier(s) constructed in accordance with Section 707 of the International Building Code portion of the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code.
  2. Occupancy is limited to the number of occupants calculated using an occupant load factor of 50 gross for Dormitories (Table 1004.5).
  3. Sleeping area(s) shall be located on a level of exit discharge.
  4. Sleeping area(s) shall have exit(s) directly to the exterior.
  5. There shall be two (2) awake and aware, on-site staff at all times when the building is occupied.
  6. Fire alarm and detection system that complies with Section 907.2.8 of the International Building Code portion of the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code.
  7. Smoke alarms in accordance with section 907.2.11.1 of the International Building Code portion of the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code.
  8. Carbon Monoxide detection in accordance with Section 915 of the International Building Code portion of the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code.
  9. Cooking of food shall not be permitted. Food warming only.

The section being modified and noted on the modification application would be CSBC IBC Section 903.2.8 since the existing nonresidential, non-sprinklered, occupancy building is changing the use to a temporary Group R-1 (Residential – Congregate Living Facility). A separate fire code modification shall be submitted to the local fire marshal with the alternative compliance measures being provided. The local fire marshal will forward the request to the Office of the State Fire Marshal to review alternative compliance with the Connecticut State Fire Safety Code.

It should be noted that this temporary change of use in accordance with Section 108 of the International Building Code portion of the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code does not constitute a permanent change of occupancy. 

Once a building code modification is granted for a specific building and no further applications for alterations are made to said building, the approved modification is applicable for the life of the building where the warming or cooling shelter would be allowed in the future without resubmitting a request for modification every time a shelter is needed. 

A new temporary use permit will be required at the beginning of each heating/cooling season contingent on an approved local fire marshal inspection report to be forwarded to the local building official so that a temporary use permit could be issued for a Group R-1 Congregate Living Facility not to exceed 180 days within a 12-month period pursuant to CSBC Section 108.1 of the International Building Code.

If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at DAS.OSBI@ct.gov.

Sincerely,


Omarys Vasquez, AIA, NOMA
State Building Inspector