Not long after SF condo owners in older high-rise buildings got a reprieve of several years for getting sprinkler systems installed, it's coming to light that the guy who wrote the rules on that may now be profiting from the ensuing chaos.
The Chronicle reported Tuesday on what could be a brewing scandal — which, to be honest, seems like it should have come to light much sooner — involving former SF Fire Marshal Kenneth Cofflin. Cofflin was responsible for writing the 2022 update to the city's fire code and pushing it through the approvals by the fire commission and SF Board of Supervisors, codifying a change that has caused an uproar among condo associations in a swath of neighborhoods.
That change made it mandatory for condos in buildings of a certain age and size to have sprinklers installed in every room of every unit by 2027 — something that some condo associations have claimed will cost $300,000 per unit, though there is some dispute about case-by-case costs. The new fire code requires the sprinklers in all pre-1975 buildings of 12 stories or more that don't have two interior stairs separated from the rest of the building by fire-rated walls designed wto withstand fire for two hours.
It's believed the change impacts around 9,800 units spread across 126 historic high-rises, primarily in the Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill, Pacific Heights, and Marina neighborhoods. And thanks to some pushback and support from Supervisors Danny Sauter and Stephen Sherrill, the Board of Supervisors voted in recent weeks to delay the deadline for the mandate by five years, to 2032.
While this has been framed as a rich-people problem and a lot whining by wealthy SF property owners, its seems a fair portion of those impacted are elderly and not necessarily wealthy — with their condos being their primary assets, possibly purchased many years ago. And, the impacted owners say, the mandate has depressed property values for anyone wishing to sell while this hangs over the buildings, with assessments to pay for the sprinkler installation work potentially unaffordable to those who currently live there.
Nicolas Tsuk, an architect who lives in one of the impacted buildings in the Tenderloin, The Hamilton at 631 O’Farrell Street, tells the Chronicle that most of the people living in his building are "teachers and nurses and retirees on a fixed income," and most of the units are studios.
Per the Chronicle's report, Cofflin, who helped set all this uproar in motion, has opened his own private consulting business in which he offers his services to condo associations to help them "anticipate objections early, right-size scope and secure faster approvals" for the sprinkler systems, and find exemptions where possible.
It certainly seems like some shady dealings, and as Sherrill tells the paper, "If it’s true that someone so involved in creating this expensive sprinkler mandate is trying to profit off it, well that’s just corruption."
Given how much attention the issue has been getting in recent months — beginning with this Chronicle piece in mid-November — and given that the condo buildings have been dealing with the problem and facing the 2027 deadline for several years, it seems remarkable that no one has called out this possible corruption sooner.
Tsuk and others are still pushing for the city to scrap the sprinkler mandate altogether, given that there was inadequate study done to assess the logistical issues and financial impacts before it was signed into law. And this new wrinkle about Cofflin reaping consulting rewards will only fuel their cause.
Previously: Nob Hill and Marina Condo Owners Have Just About Secured a Delay on That Pricey Sprinkler Mandate
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