When building an ADU a fire hydrant can be your friend or foe.
I've walked past my fire hydrant for the last 30 years without once introducing myself.
And this got me thinking, where are all the fire hydrants in your neighborhood? And more importantly, where's the nearest fire hydrant to your home? If you don't know, walk your neighborhood in search of the nearest fire hydrant. Once you find it, measure how far it is from your home. Do you think its placement would allow firefighters to fight a fire at your home effectively? Why or why not?
I'm fortunate that my fire hydrant is well within the 600 ft requirement for building an ADU on my property. The hydrant will not be more than 250 ft from any of my ADU exterior walls. So one could say my closet fire hydrant is my new best friend.
However, when building an ADU a fire hydrant can be a foe. I have a downtown neighbor whose nearest fire hydrant was deemed "unsafe" and if it's unsafe for her proposed ADU then it's certainly unsafe for her home. She mentioned the City wasn't going to address her hydrant issue, but she could spend $40K to put one in. Ouch!
In terms of your ADU, if your hydrant is not within 600 ft of your project, it may require a Fire Variance that entails additional safety measures. And even if the hydrant is within 600 ft you still need to get the hydrant's psi and gsm numbers from your water company.
See my Water Flow Request blog for more info.
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