PROTECTING SMALL BUSINESSES

November 6, 2003

Chicago Tribune

Council defers nightclub sprinkler vote

Jimmy Greenfield, RedEye.

Some nightclub owners said they were granted a reprieve Wednesday when the City Council tabled an ordinance forcing nightclubs to add sprinklers, a move fire safety experts said will save lives but that some club owners said could force them to close their doors.

Arthur Johnston recently installed sprinklers in his North Side nightclub, Sidetrack, even though they are not required. Johnston is in his 21st year of business and said he can afford the $88,000 it cost to retrofit his 10,000-square-foot club, but he worries about owners who are just getting by.

"We could not have done it [in our first year], and we could not have done it in our first 15 years," Johnston said. "The reality is that retrofitting sprinklers into old buildings is much more expensive than just putting them up in a new warehouse sort of structure."

The ordinance, originally proposed by Ald. Ed Burke (14th), was approved in the council's Building Committee last month and could have been voted on Wednesday, but four aldermen voted to defer the vote. The ordinance would require clubs with an occupancy limit of 50 or more, including employees, to install sprinklers.

Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) believes the recent high-rise fire in the Loop is not a reason to force small-business owners into installing sprinklers.

"This sprinkler ordinance would not address the problem that we have with clubs," Shiller said. "Why are we doing it? It's a knee-jerk reaction to something else."

Tom Lia, executive director of the Northern Illinois Fire Sprinkler Board, disagrees.

"I think that they have to think about the safety of the people that are going to eat and drink in those establishments," Lia said.

He said many nightclubs exceed their occupancy and the behavior of patrons who have been drinking is unpredictable.

"When you have that kind of crowd and you have alcohol involved, maybe darkened lighting conditions, you have a greater chance for some type of injury or problem to occur," Lia said.

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