The City Council discussed a proposed code change that could shut down dozens of local businesses within two years, including the Station House restaurant at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, if business owners do not install costly sprinkler systems.
The new fire code, pushed through by Chattanooga Fire Marshal James Whitmire, requires that existing sports bars, restaurants with live entertainment, dance halls, discotheques, nightclubs and “assembly occupancies with festival seating” install sprinkler systems.
Previous rules only required buildings to install sprinkler systems if they significantly renovated a building or changed its use or occupancy.
The cost is $2 to $12 per square foot, or an average of $50,000 to $70,000 per business with an occupancy over 100, officials say.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Times Free Press.