Milwaukee waives sprinkler permit fees for older apartments

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By ADAM KELNHOFER

Special to The Daily Reporter

Owners of older apartment buildings in Milwaukee will have to spend a little less money to install fire sprinklers after the Common Council voted to waive all sprinkler permit fees.

An ordinance to waive all fees related to plan review, permit and initial inspection for installing fire sprinklers in older apartment buildings in a unanimous vote cleared the full Common Council on March 3 after being first introduced less than three weeks earlier.

Current state law only requires buildings 60 feet or taller, or buildings with 20 or more dwelling units, that were finished or started construction after July 3, 1974, to include automatic fire suppression systems.

Proposals in the Capitol to mandate older buildings to install fire suppression systems and create a fund to assist building owners with costs have stalled. Charged by a fire at an apartment building built in 1968 on the city’s north side that killed five, Democratic lawmakers championed the bills but none have received a public hearing.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, in May said the Legislature needs to keep in mind housing costs when considering mandates that could make housing more expensive.

Waiving the fees in Milwaukee would save apartment owners between roughly $2,000 for a 50,000-square-foot apartment building and roughly $30,000 for a building with more than 400,000 square feet, according to the Department of Neighborhood Services.

But, while the ordinance would waive initial inspection fees, property owners would still have to pay for annual inspection fees, which is generally charged per sprinkler head, which can cost upwards of $1,500 per year in buildings with more than 5,000 heads.

Dustin Dill, director of fire protection for local contractor Dave Jones, said the costs to retrofit sprinklers in older buildings can vary widely, but it’s roughly $3,500-$4,000 per unit in Madison, where the company is based.

Compared to Madison, Milwaukee has some older building stock, which was never designed with sprinkler plumbing in mind, creating more challenges for installation.

Whether the savings from the new ordinance will be enough to convince building owners to take on the construction expenses remains to be seen.

Multiple apartment owner associations did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Milwaukee ordinance.