Fiscal Note
No City appropriation required.
Title
Amending Section 34.505 of the Madison General Ordinances to require approved uniform addresses be obtained prior to submitting building plans for permitting.
Body
DRAFTER’S ANALYSIS: The International Fire Code (IFC) and Section 10.34 of the Madison General Ordinances require addresses for all buildings to follow a uniform set of criteria. The uniformity assists first responders in providing quick services. City of Madison Engineering works with design professionals, developers and property owners to approve addresses for buildings and vacant lots. Generally, the approval occurs before the building permit. The Madison Fire Department (MFD) is charged with enforcement of the approved address plan with the compliance verification at the time of occupancy approval.
Often the building plans use numbers to assist designers and builders with design and construction. For these internal purposes, the city does not have any need to review or approve the numbers. However, those design numbers can become the identifier used in leases and other legal documents, ending up with units that are not addressed in accordance with the approved plans. Correcting unit numbers after occupancy causes expense and inconvenience to owners, in addition to impeding emergency services.
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The Common Council of the City of Madison do hereby ordain as follows:
Section 34.505 entitled “Premises Identification” of the Madison General Ordinances is amended as follows:
“34.505 - PREMISES IDENTIFICATION (APPROVED BUILDING ADDRESS).
a. In IFC section 505.1, the words "or alphabetical letters" are not included as part of this chapter.
b. An address plan, developed from building floor plans, shall be submitted to City Engineering for the review and approval of the building address including unit addresses. The City Engineering approved address plan(s) shall be kept at the building site and shall be open to inspection by the City.
c. Approved addresses shall be in accordance with this section and MGO 10.34.”