Timeline

CNU and its collaborators are working to change the International Fire Code with proposed amendments empowering local fire code officials to be flexible on street designs. CNU members Carl Wren, Norman Garrick, Danny Pleasant, and the EPA's Danielle Arigoni wrote new language for Section 503 of the IFC — the passage that mandates designated fire access roads have at least 20 feet of clear space.

CNU members Patrick Siegman, a transportation planner with Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates in San Francisco, and Peter Swift, a civil and traffic engineer and owner of Swift & Associates in Longmont, Colo., also wrote a new appendix (Appendix K) that can be adopted by local jurisdictions.

2009

These changes were presented to the International Code Council in Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 26, 2009. The ICC's Fire Code Committee approved Appendix K, but rejected the proposed Section 503 language. 

2010

The ICC's Final Action Hearings, held May 14-23, 2010, in Dallas, Texas, saw members reject both CNU code proposals. However, opponents did allow that the current fire code has the inherent flexibility to allow narrower streets in some circumstances. 

2015

After years of hard work, advocacy, and grit on the part of CNU members, the International Building Code was revised to provide flexibility for human-scaled street design, allowing fire code officials to make lane-width exceptions based on context-sensitive public safety objectives like pedestrian access, vehicle speed, and urban design.