Best practices book - Flipbook - Page 370
Building Confidence, Building Community.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION:
The purpose of this amendment is to provide provisions in the Denver Building Code to enable community villages to be
created to reduce homelessness. Community village proposals to date have been allowed in Denver only by way of the
DBC administrative modification process.
Currently neither the IBC nor IRC directly provide code provisions for the described community village concept. The
individual sleeping units within these community villages on their own do not provide the complete independent living
facilities required by the IRC for a dwelling unit. A significant code provision within this proposal is relief from the IBC
requirement to provide automatic fire sprinkler protection within the detached sleeping units.
This proposal is intentionally silent with respect to whether the community villages are temporary or permanent.
All Code provisions which would apply to any other type occupied temporarily or permanently placed building, e.g.
foundations and utility connections, would equally apply to community village structures.
The provisions for fire lanes, fire hydrants, and smoke alarms were developed in cooperation with Denver Fire
Department plans review staff.
The minimum individual sleeping unit dimensions of Section 429.2 are taken from IRC Section R304. The maximum
size of a sleeping unit is set at the same maximum as allowed by IRC Appendix Q for a tiny house.
The maximum occupant load within a sleeping unit allowed by Section 429.3 is based upon IBC Table 1004.5 Maximum
Floor Area Allowances Per Occupant for a Dormitory.
The individual sleeping unit addressing provisions of Section 429.6 are a modification of the addressing provisions of
IBC section 502 rather than repeating the requirements verbatim within section 429.
The exterior stairway lighting provisions of Section 429.7 have been extracted from IRC Section R303.8.
The potable water requirements found in Sections 429.11 and 429.14 were taken from 2018 IPC Sections 602 – Water
Required and 608 – Protection of Potable Water Supply. The definition for a water dispenser was taken from 2018 IPC
Section 202 – General Definitions.
The provisions of Section 429.12 are intended to address the exhaust of cooking appliances within the cooking facility
building – which is not a Group R-X occupancy – which is an essential component of a community village campus have
been extracted from the domestic cooking appliance provisions of IBC Section 420.9.
IRC Appendix Chapter Q Tiny Houses, Section AQ102 limits the maximum size of a tiny house to 400 SF. I added this
same limit to Community Village proposal in Section 310.6. In Section 310.6 I also introduced the possibility for a Group
R-X occupancy to include a loft.
Added Section 429.13 which references IRC Appendix Chapter Q Tiny Houses, Section AQ104 - Lofts.
Section 429.14. Is a specific accommodation to the tiny village concept with respect to the length of time these small
structures may be placed on temporary foundations and to the maximum amount of time the community may exist
prior to being required to provide connection to permanent utilities.
IMPACT:
The purpose of this amendment is to provide provisions in the Denver Building Code to enable community villages to be
created to reduce homelessness. Community village proposals to date have been allowed in Denver only by way of the
DBC administrative modification process.
DEPARTMENTAL IMPACT:
The review of community village proposals will become a conventional review and eliminate the requirement for their
approval to be only by the means of the approval of an administrative modification request.
BEST PRACTICES | 361
Homelessness in the United States, How are Major Jurisdictions Dealing with This Issue?
www.iccsafe.org | page 15
