Finger Lakes Building Officials, Inc.

An Affiliated Member of the New York State Building Officials Conference

May 30, 2003

Re: Unlimited area building
19 NYCRR 1221.1, BCNYS 2002, Section 507.2

This letter is in response to your inquiry regarding whether or not two buildings of the same occupancy connected by a fire wall on part of one side are permitted to be constructed with unlimited building area. It is our opinion that this situation is permitted by the Building Code of New York State, 2002 edition (BCNYS)[19 NYCRR 1221.1].

BCNYS Section 507.2 permits the construction of unlimited area buildings of group M occupancy if other than Type V construction, equipped with a NFPA 13 sprinkler system, and surrounded by public ways or yards with a distance of at least 60 feet. In this situation, two group ‘M' occupancies are proposed to be built with a fire wall assembly separating the two. Since these two buildings are permitted to be constructed with any fire separation, the addition of the fire wall assembly provides additional protection above the requirements of the BCNYS and should not diminish the applicability of BCNYS Section 507.2 to this situation.

The construction of these buildings are permitted to be of any construction type except Type V construction. One option would be the proposed Type IIB construction, which does not require any fire-resistance rated protection of structural members.

This advisory opinion is rendered based upon the information provided. Administration and enforcement of the code are within the jurisdiction of the local authority. If you have any questions or wish to discuss this matter further, please call me at (518) 474-4073.

Sincerely,
Daniel E. Nichols
Fire Protection Engineer I
Division of Code Enforcement and Administration
Al03-125

Finger Lakes Building Officials Association, Inc.
3100 Atlantic Ave.
Penfield, NY 14526