http://www.wsmv.com/news/17172469/detail.html#-Sprinkler Ordinance Costly For Nightclubs
3rd & Lindsley Could Spend Up To $60K To Stay In Business
Reported By Anne Marshall
POSTED: 4:39 pm CDT August 12, 2008
UPDATED: 7:33 pm CDT August 12, 2008
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Some Nashville club owners said recently that a new sprinkler system ordinance is a good idea but an extremely tough one to meet.
Video: Sprinkler Rules Put Pinch On Nightclubs
The ordinance stems from a deadly Rhode Island nightclub fire in 2003 that killed 100 people.
At 3rd & Lindsley, time is what owner Ron Brice said he needs to meet the requirements.
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"All of a sudden it's, 'Hey, to stay in business, it’s going to cost (more than) $60,000,'" he said.
Brice appealed to the city for more time to comply with the city's policy demanding sprinklers in clubs.
Of the 32 clubs that needed to add sprinklers, 28 have come before the appeals board since being notified of the change in October. Clubs were given until the end of the year to install sprinklers, so the fire department and Metro Codes were expecting a lot of appeals.
"I think once somebody heard that one person did it, everybody did it," said Kirk Evans.
Evans owns Decades. He said he got a 14-month extension from the Metro Appeals Board to install sprinklers, but even that may not be enough, he said, because the cost is so high.
He said it would cost him and his club about $40,000 or $50,000.
The actual sprinklers aren't the expensive part; getting water to the building is expensive. Decades has to pipe in water from a water main across Second Avenue.
"You have to block the street. You have to have security to block the street. You have to build the pipes. You have to stop the traffic," Evans said.
Tearing up the road also means a high cost to the club.
"We're a small business. I don’t have a lot of extra money floating around," Evans said.
Some club owners said they are hanging on to the hope that they can be grandfathered in to the new ordinance.
"I think that would be the fair thing to do," Brice said.
Some of the bars and honkytonks on lower Broadway have started the process of installing sprinklers.
A representative from the fire marshal's office said if clubs prove they are working to comply, they may allow for a second appeal.