"We didn't start the fire?"
The Chapel Hill Town Council will debate an ordinance next week on the installation of sprinkler systems in nightclubs and bars with high occupancy to improve safety--but in the debate over safety versus cost, there are no easy answers.
Initially, the ordinance encompassed all businesses that serve alcohol with an occupancy of 50 or more but was met with strong resistance within the business community. After opposition from many small establishments, the Chapel Hill Fire Department redrafted the ordinance to target only businesses with an occupancy of at least 100 people, narrowing the number of affected businesses to three bars.
The push for sprinkler systems in nightclubs comes after a deadly incident in a Rhode Island club last February that claimed the lives of 97 club-goers when a band's pyrotechnics went awry and the sound-proofing insulation near the stage caught fire. The tragedy was followed by a similar incident in Chicago that resulted in 20 casualties.
"After the Rhode Island incident we got a lot of phone calls from parents of students here, basically asking what we were going to do to make sure that [something similar] didn't happen to their child," said Chapel Hill Fire Marshall Caprice Mellon. Mellon said the intention of the ordinance is not to target any group of businesses unfairly.
"There are some bars and nightclubs in town that aren't going to install a sprinkler system if the ordinance is adopted that should have a sprinkler system--it simply won't have the impact we would have liked for it to have," Mellon said.
The proposed ordinance comes with a high price tag for affected businesses. The water source for sprinkler systems cannot be obtained from domestic water lines, meaning that business owners would incur the costs of tapping into the main water lines.
The cost for retro-fitting the businesses is significantly higher than it is for sprinkler systems to be incorporated into the construction of new facilities.
Mark Dorosin, Trinity '87 and owner of Hell, one of the bars affected, estimated the cost of installation to be between $30,000 and $75,000, with an additional loss of revenue from staying closed during renovations. The other two businesses affected, Bub O'Malley's and The Treehouse, occupy the same building as Hell.
Mellon added that one business owner, rather than face the possibility of having to install a sprinkler system, closed his bar in Chapel Hill and plans to move to a nearby community to open another bar.
Patrons of the bars began to circulate a petition to present at the town council meeting next Monday, and Dorosin said the petition to 'Save Hell' has gathered over 200 signatures. "The support has been really overwhelming.... Hopefully we'll make the town council understand," he said.
Jason Nichols, a graduate student in the biochemistry department at UNC, received the petition via e-mail from a friend and agreed that the ordinance is over-reaching.
"If people were really concerned about fire safety you'd think they would have a broader ordinance that would have more of an impact," Nichols said.
Mellon said they had not discussed reintroducing a proposition with a wider scope.
"There are some parents who are happy that this step is being taken," Mellon said. "They may feel that [the ordinance] is not broad enough but it is a step in the right direction."
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