A Honolulu home builder says he will challenge the city's requirement that he put up fire sprinklers in his Campbell Industrial Park factory. Builder challenges
need for sprinklersHe questions a rule requiring
installation in a factory expansionBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comThe city Department of Planning and Permitting granted Hawaiian Palisades Homes its building permit yesterday after about 80 of its employees held signs in front of Honolulu Hale and protested the delay in issuance of the permit.
The company constructs prefabricated homes.
City Planning Director Randall Fujiki issued the permit, allowing expansion of an existing site, based on plans showing sprinklers in place.
The building code requires industrial buildings that are more than 24,000 square feet in size and use combustible materials to have sprinklers.
Art Smith, the company's chief executive officer, said the sprinklers would cost $180,000 and are unnecessary. He noted that many neighbors at Campbell do not have sprinklers.
Smith said his company will appeal the sprinkler provision to the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Smith earlier accused the city of stalling because of political pressure placed by the Hawaii Carpenters' Union because he is not paying union-scale wages. Both the union and the city denied undue influence.
Fujiki said the only thing holding up the approval was "a check valve connection to the meter for their sprinkler system" from the Board of Water Supply.