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The Lexington Economic Development Authority is continuing to work on developing a proposal for a program to incentivize business and building owners in Lexington to install fire sprinklers in their buildings, including the upper floors of buildings in the city’s historic downtown.
The program, if successful, would be the first of its kind, not just in Virginia but, by the recollection of Lexington Fire Chief Ty Dickerson, in the entire country, and could potentially serve as the model for other jurisdictions to launch similar initiatives.
During meetings in November and December, the EDA discussed the details of the proposed program and how to implement it, including which areas of the city to prioritize.
The program was born out of a desire to prevent fires from potentially destroying portions of the historic downtown and to increase the occupancy of upper floors in the downtown area that currently are unoccupied.
Dickerson, who has been appointed as the project manager for the sprinkler program, encouraged the EDA to be open to considering buildings in the city’s other commercial district outside of downtown for this program if no one in downtown applied initially. He also said that he didn’t think there would be a large rush of applications, but that this program would be something that would be a more long-term project to improve the city.
“I think this is gonna be one of those things where 25 years from now, we’ll walk around downtown and count the number of things, not two years from now,” he told the EDA while introducing the program at its Nov. 20 meeting.
Part of the reason for that, he explained, was that it was “a mess” to try to install sprinklers in an occupied business and that the best time for a building owner to install them is either during new construction or a significant renovation.
He also emphasized that the program would prioritize voluntary sprinkler systems, or systems that would not be required by the state code for whatever work was being done. The program would offer a zero-interest loan to help the building owner cover the cost of a sprinkler system where they might not otherwise install one due to it being so expensive.
At its Dec. 18 meeting, the EDA settled on prioritizing downtown for the program, but consider applications for other commercial districts and residential projects as secondand third-tier priorities.
Potential applicants would also need to be planning to install sprinklers in their entire buildings, not just on the first floor, especially in the downtown district.
Another potential consideration that was discussed was whether the property taxes and utilities were current for the building in question. EDA member Felicia DiPronio Bush argued that the taxes and bills being current was something that should be considered when deciding whether to lend money or not. Tom Contos pointed out that there could be extenuating circumstances, such as someone inheriting a dilapidated building and not having the money to pay the owed bills and taxes before fixing it up. In those circumstances, the EDA agreed that they could potentially offer an exception in lending the money.
The program is still in development, and discussion of the program and the considerations that will be taken into account for administering the funds will continue at future meetings of the EDA.
