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Cl TY TO IN MES TIGA TE According to statistics presented. to council Mon- day night by the building department, housing construction dropped dras- tically in Waterloo last year. _ Complaints by Waterloo, fire chief John Statler over the lack of input into the Ontario Building Code by qualified fire prevention experts prompted mayor Herb Epp to request a re- port from city administra- tion during Monday night's standing committees of council meeting. Chief Staller informed council the proposed legis- lation endorsed by the On- tario Building Officials Association (080A) and expected to be passed by the provincial government Only 497 permits for dwelling units were issued by the city in 1974 compared to 1.462 in the previous to 1.462 in the previous year. While housing con- struction dropped by close to two-thints in one year, the construction value of $12.1 million was more than half the $21.9 million for 1973. and the value of ,,,_,fii_fi_ WV, = I l . . ",l?r?:iiiidcti"t,a, _ . - avi/tgalil IV' "ndiri, 120th Year No.3 L 1h"'d"esdav""""rtf'ceP 'bi _) n ' oo,Ontario IOCents ~‘ a: ' . --_- .1... . Staller to seek local' Building code "thithoriity City building cut drastically Dave Shier was amazed at the turnout for the benefit in his honor last week at the Waterloo Arena. Dave who lost the sight of his left eye in a hockey game earlier this season was presented with a check from Wa- terloo Minor Hockey president Glenn Moeser while his father Keith would not permit municipal fire departments to enforce building regulations at the local level. “If we are responsible for life safety then we should have some jurisdic- tion over the building code," Statler said, pointing out height. area, construction materials, occupant load, fire separations and exits should be carefully scutin- ized by local fire chiefs if a structure is to meet safety standards. “All we are saying is that in fire matters the all permits issued was about $7 million less than the 1973 figure of $27.7 million. Included in the permits issued last year were $4.5 million for industrial con- struction, $2.8 million for government and institu- tional and $1 million for commercial construction. On the positive side, government and institution- al construction more than trippled the 1973 total from $721,000 to more than $2.8 million. chief should have juris- diction," Statler said in response to the OBOA legis- lation. ' While the OBOA respects the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs concern it sug- gests there can only be one official to enforce pro- vincial regualtions at the municipal level. They con- clude the municipality would be best served by a building inspector rather than a committee for establishing codes. In a letter to council the OBOA points out "there can only be one chief official to en- force the provincial regula- tions at the municipal level" and the requirements for fire fighting equipment and systems cannot be segregated from the body of thecode.....To dosowould be to invite conflicting inter- pretations of the code and defeat the object of uniform- ity." _ The 0MBO indicates there are a great many other facets of the building code, which do not pertain to fire safety and would therefore not require in- put from the local fire chief. It is their opinion the fire chief could be consulted by the building inspector prior to the issuence of a building permit bat that would be‘the extent of the fire chief 's input. Staller suggests the best interests of the municipal- ity would be better served if the input by the local fire chief was more than one of consultation by the building inspector. Fire safety is one of the major concerns of any city, Staller pointed out, and the fire chief should be granted the Close to 100 fires in Wa- terloo last year caused an estimated $352,604 in dam- ages, according to statistics presented to city council Monday by the fire de- partment. . The report notes three of the five largest fires of 1974 were the result of ar- son. Fires at the Goodyear Go Centre on Weber St. ($200,000 damage). the City Hotel on King St. ($37,000) and the Waterloo Family YMCA on Lincoln Rd, 1332.000) were all-the result of arson. _ The other major fires for 1974 included the blaze at the 'building housing Morrow's Confectionary at 103 University Ave. W. In that fire, attributed to careless smoking, Lorne Shrier and WMHA vice-president Don Dreieinger Iook on. Despite the injury Dave has returned to the Waterloo Siskin lineup for the remainder of the season. For a complete story on the benefit night see this week's Chronicle sports pages. Arson takes toll 1974 report notes authority to enforce the local building code. Mayor Epp suggested a committee made up of the building inspector, chief planner, chief engineer. city clerk, chairman of the protective services com- mittee and the fire chief report on the situation. Alderman Harold Wag- Scheider died of asphyxi- ation. The fire caused an estimated 816,812 damage to the structure. A fifth major fire was caused by children playing with matches at 136A We- ber St. North. Damages were estimated at $13,911. During the year .Water- loo fire-fighters responded to 558 alarms in the city, compared to only 429 in 1973. Damages for 1973 were substantially higher due to the downtown King St. fire which caused $305,870 in damages to several stores opposite Waterloo Square. Total damages for that year were closeto$740,000. Of the 98 fires in build- ings during 1974, _61 were in dwellings or apartments ner suggested the city look into the possibility of pass- ing a bylaw granting Staller the authority to enforce local building -codes. Mr. Wagner also suggested the findings of the committee should be forwarded to the Association of Municipal- ities in Ontario for their consideration. During the past 12 months the department carried out 4,310 fire pre- vention inspections and presented films and lec- tures on fire procedures to an estimated 3.626 people. During the year 420 girl guides successfully com- pleted the departments four week course in basic fire prevention and first aid fire fighting to receive their fire safety badges. (total estimated damage was close to 355.000); 10 in mercantile or office loca- tions ($249,262 in damages); 12 industrial blazes (un- der $8,000 in total dam- ages); five in schools lun- der $4,000 damage) and eight in vacant buildings (less than$500in damages).