Published twice monthly on the 10th and 26th The Franklin County Chronicle 10 May 1994 Page 5 Fire Safety Workshop Brings Rental Managers and Regulators into "Polite Confrontation" The purpose of the workshop was to seek public comment about a proposed rule concerning "transiently-rented dwellings" a phrase with legal implications because if a structure were so-defined, it would be categorized into the purview of a Florida Statute that required external means of egress (under certain conditions) and/or installation of a sprinkler system (under certain conditions) by 1 October 1994. Ms. Lee M. Cornman, Environmental Specialist III, from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, opened the workshop on Monday, 25 April 1994 at the St. George Island fire house. The audience consisted of St. George Island residents, real estate and property managers, and various legal representatives of professional associations in Florida. Ms. Cornman said the purpose of the meeting was to obtain public comment on the proposed administrative rule, which attempted to define stories as relating to FS 509.215 (1)(a). The proposed language has not been finalized even at this date, and she added that additional workshops would be held around the state to obtain additional opinion. She also said: "Let me make one thing clear at this time. This is a statewide issue. A lot of publicity and comment have come out of this north Florida area." One of the issues has to do with the defining single-family residences on pilings into the statutes, sometimes rented to others, through a real LINDA'S 'roue TRADING POST G A WE PRINT T-SHIRTS & CAPS OVER 1000 DESIGNS TO CHOOSE FROM SOUVENIRS SHELLS JEWELRY Shell Wind Chimes Beach Floats & Toys Hwy. 98 / Across from the smallest Police Station in the world! Carrabelle, FL 32322 904-697-2547 "The Bitch "The bitch keeps getting pregnant," he said as he handed the litter of puppie'j to a worker at the local h ua nue & society. Imagine that. A human being who ,blames his dog for getting pregnant. Over 40,000 puppies and kittens are born in the United States every day and each year over 5 million unwanted animals are put to death in the nation's animal shelter. Through a spay and neuter program the Franklin County Humane Society is working toward. keeping thousands of homeless animals from a hopeless existence on the streets. If you need assistance with the cost of spay or.neuter surgery for your pet, please call 653-8952., Any donations to the program may be mailed to the Franklin County Humane Society, Box 432, Apalachicola, FL 32320. Membership in the Fran ($12.00 for Senior Citize ,e klin County Humane Societ) i-1 '5.00 per year ens) and may be mailed to the above address. a Bill Woodyard Ron weDD estate agency, which manages these properties. If so defined as a transient rental facility, and depending upon how "stories" are defined for piling homes, the homeowner might have to install a sprinkler system, or provide for external means of egress, which would also become an expensive burden. The draft language presented to the workshop was as follows: 61C-1.004 Safety Requirements Fire. Miscellaneous (6) As used in Section 509.21 5(1 ) (a), F.S., the term "three stories" means three horizontal divisions of a building, beginning from fire department access level, each of which comprises the area between two adjacent levels; provided that the area between the two adjacent levels must exceed 10 feet to be considered a "story"; and, provided further that said area need not consist of habitable space to be considered a "story" . Ron Webb, Fire Safety Coordinator, gave some background on the relevant Statute 509.215: "...Florida Statute 509.215 is nothing really new. It's been around since about 1982. The problem we're faced with right now.. .over the last year...is how do we define a story. Part of the issue came about with coastal dwellings being constructed. Part of that problem has to deal with locations which are built on stilts (pilings). How do you define the level below the stilts? In some areas it is only 2 feet above the ground, and in some it's 8 feet (above the ground) and other locations around the state, we have two-, three- and four-story structures being built atop 17 foot pilings. You talk about fire department access, especially along coastal areas where you're dealing with sand and dunes, how some departments handle this problem is different from others. Down in in the Keys and Sannibel...it is different Every departments capable ofhandling it differently. But, they're all faced with the same problem and that's height or height of structures. Different building codes, they don't refer to stories, they refer to floors. That's the difference between our statute and their building codes...One code specifically addresses the issue of floors. Anything where there is something enclosed... .If you have a laundry room or a porch enclosed on the bottom below your living quarters where your pilings are, that would be counted as a story. We're just basically here today to listen. For you to provide input on helping us resolve this matter..." FORGOTTEN COAST vi TMJ.iATRE By Jack Dakota In my first column appearing in the 26 April edition of The Chronicle, I announced that the Forgotten Coast Theatre was holding auditions for "A Bridge to Love" at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 10 May and Thursday, 12 May at the Florida Power Corporation's meeting lounge located near downtown Apalachicola. Although the exact address is 49 Avenue F, our typographer hit the wrong key on the computer and sent you to "99" Avenue F. If you drive to "99" Avenue F, I don't know where you'll end up, but our producer/business manager/ director, Angela Boyd Schoelles, and I won't be at that unknown location. We'll be holding the auditions at the Florida Power Corporation lounge. I admire consistency in people. So, I was impressed when our typographer hit the same, wrong key near the end of the same paragraph in that column. "A Bridge to Love" requires seven actors: two female teenagers about 16, two male teenagers about 18, one male adult about 45, a male or female adult between the ages of 35 to 70 and one female adult about 40. Already I'm getting help in revising my first Adams County play. The. typographer changed the age of the one female adult to about "90". Since that woman in the script is the mother of a 16-year-old girl, our typographer was accidentally challenging me to create a character which the audience would probably find unbelievable. TWEEN WATERS CONSTRUCTION NEW CONSTRUCTION REMODELING RENOVATION DECKS DOCKS GAZEBOS TOM BUCHANAN CRCA01352 f 904-545-1372 904-349-2387 Loumes (904) 653-8878 MiddLfebrooks funeral ome(904)6-8 APALACHICOLA EASTPOINT (904) 670-8670 ^' SYour First or Second Home Gulf State Bank can help with a 10, 15, 20, or 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Loan at competitive rates +++ CALL OR COME BY TODAY +++ IQUAL OUGUO LENDER Public Comment was then solicited, led by Marion Hough of Mexico Beach, but she discussed her ideas for a fire safety rope ladder. "I can guarantee you...my window box with the neck bag, with the safety harness...I can put that baby in that net bag and hand over hand, and have 'em down." Trey Goldman, representing the FloridaAssociation ofRealtors, brought the issues into focus, challenging the Hotel and Restaurant Division of the Department of Business Regulation authority to even write an administrative rule. He added that the Division's interpretation of the statute was changing, and that the Hotel and Restaurant Division was proposing one version and the State Fire Marshall's office another set of rules. "How does this Division reconcile this proposal with the State Fire Marshall's proposal?" No representatives of the State Fire Marshall's Office were present at this meeting. Ms. Comman repeated however, that the State Fire Marshall's Office had been involved in discussions about the proposed rule. Bruce Minnick, St. George Island property owner, and legal representative for an unstated Realty firm brought the issue to a sharper focus, which became a part of the low level confrontation between the regulated businesses and the regulators. Minnick said, in part: "The Dept. is attempting to define the phrase or term "stories," I believe, is 509.215 (1)(A). Is that correct? That same Statute, 509.215(7) reads as follows: The division of State Fire Marshall shall adopt in accordance of Chapter 120 (That's the Administrative Procedures Act) any rules necessary for the implementation and enforcement of this section...' (Talking about this section of the law to amend, or to interpret). '...The Division of State Fire Marshall shall enforce this section in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 633 and any establishment...'" "Under what authority does the Department of Business and Professional Regulation have in promoting this rule when the Statute clearly says that the Division of State Fire Marshall shall adopt-promulgate and adopt?" 4: ,,,,,1 Gale Palmer Trey Goldman Gale Palmer, President of the Vacation Rental Manageis Association, explained the communications difficulties between the managers and the regulators "in trying to make something fit into a shoe that it wasn't designed for." She added: "...I was elected President of that Association. We have spent thousands ofdollars making sure we were available to the State Fire Marshall's Office and anybody else...We agreed publicly and privately that fire safety was an incredible concern of ours in this industry for no other reason than the liability that it poses to us as realtors and property managers, in addition to the concern for human life. Anyway, the end result was, as vacation rental managers, we were working with the Fire Marshall's Office. We were told, we were directed, that they were the authority that writes this law in the State of Florida...We've always been told that the Fire Marshall's Office writes the law, they interpret the rule, they have the final authority in interpreting how the rule is supposed to be, .interpreted. And, the Division, of Hotel. and .Restaurant : Professional Regulation is the enforcement agency. Itwas a big shbck to us, all of a sudden, one week before we thought we'd' finished the writing of this rule with... the Fire Marshall's Office, to get a notice that we were going to have five more public workshops around the State of Florida and were going to talk about life safety and fire code and how it applies to resort rental units...It applies to the residential unit because their lives are saved, it just how it applies to those people that are licensed. And, for the record, I want to say that we had a very involved part in coming up the rule that has just recently been written...4A.43...and as an Association of property managers throughout the state, for the record, we are very much in support of this rule as it's written, and the way it's been interpreted and have iton good authority thatwe will immediately start complying with these rules and regulations, and if...We have come to agreement that we are excited that we have a definition for what we are. We're hoping that we are not trying to start all over again." Other speakers followed, commending the State Fire Marshall rules and Hotel and Restaurant Division enforcement, but adding a rising concern about which agency had the authority to write the rules. Bill Woodyard, Assistant General Counsel for the Division of Hotel and Restaurant, Dept. of Business Regulation, was moved to state: "I would like to say something just to make something clear. Bruce Minnick ]JJ4.LJLLL l 1 i I ]IIJJII I 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 I 1 1 1 I I II I l I 1 1 1 1 1 I i 1 1 1 I 11 11 = GEORGIAN MOTEL po-Cae= Hans & Esther-New Owners Nice clean Roaom P.O. Box 1337 Highway 319 and 98 - - Carrabelle, FL 32322 Downtown Adjacent to Carrabelle River = - (904) 697-3410 Reservations Accepted Master Card Visa MARINE ELECTRONICS REPAIR & SERVICE AUDIOO DOCTOR MARINE ELECTRONIC VImON OFFERING FULL SERVICE ON MOST MAJOR BRANDS VHF, DEPTH RECORDERS, LORAN, SCANNERS, ETC. Your full service 1318-A N. MONROE our u service Tallahassee, FL 32303 warranty center forfor (904) 2220542 S SITEX Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. marine electronics Saturday 10 a.m. 4 p.m. Local Doctors from page 2' administrator, did send a letter to the meeting, and itwas distributed to everyone in attendance. In it be asked for public input and invited the public to visit the hospital. He wrote in part "I will continue to interact with the existing and anticipated future medical staff to refine specifications of required equipment and services to optimize the scope and quality of medical care available in Franklin County." He went on in the letter to say, "We urge you to join us in identifying common service and equipment goals that we can reach through mutual positive interaction." He added that in order to communicate with the public he had a weekly column in the Apalachicola paper. "We offer a standing offer to any member of the public to inspect the Emerald Coast Hospital atany time, announced or unannounced to assess the progress we are making. Finally I make myself available to anyone in the community for direct communication of the concerns the money was spent. Due to the efforts efforts on the part of Nichols, one line was added to the bill, calling for the quarterly reporting to the legislature. Nichols produced a long list of problem areas, starting out almost falling off the wall in one bathroom. The air conditioner is leaking freon. There is a non-working faucet in the respiratory therapy room. Some patient rooms have been converted to office use. Critical office space is being used for Home Health Care. The X-ray dark room is in need of repair. He added that many of the above need a major overhaul and "band-aid" repairs will not suffice. The doctors were concerned that the the area that had at one time been intensive care and surgical about our management." Continued on page 5 I * ^