A once-banned type of building is back in favor – and the Planning Commission approves

The Planning Commission approved several proposed amendments to an amendment of the city’s Technical Building Code during a meeting March 25, all of which address a peculiar kind of development called a “single-stair,” or “point-access” building.

Point-access buildings are so named because they’re only accessible by a single point of entrance and exit. Small, single-stairway apartment buildings were once common, but their construction has been effectively banned in most of the U.S. under the International Building Code, a model code voluntarily adopted by most municipalities around the country that mandates at least two points of access for buildings taller than three stories.

However, single-stair buildings are ubiquitous outside of the U.S. Now some organizations and housing advocates are pushing for reform to local building codes to once again allow for these buildings to be built, arguing that they are cheaper to build and therefore cheaper to rent, more comfortable to live in, and better for families and urban neighborhoods. Also, due to modern-day safety regulations, they are no less safe than huge, multiple-access buildings.

The crux of that argument is founded in the spatial realities of constructing multiple-exit stairwells, which tend to require large floor plans and long hallways. Those features split buildings in half and reduce window coverage in units, and the statistical record finds little difference in fire safety outcomes between point-access and multiple point buildings.

In a letter addressed to Mayor Kirk Watson and City Council, Sophia Razzaque, president of the Austin chapter of the American Institute of Architects, called the amendment “an important step in providing Austin with the type of housing that will facilitate safe, family oriented, walkable neighborhoods.”

The amendments considered and adopted by the Planning Commission are amendments to an amendment, which may seem confusing. Basically, city staff proposed an amendment to the Technical Building Code, and the planners proposed edits to it. All three were proposed by Commissioner Felicity Maxwell, speaking for a working group that deals with the building code in finer detail.

One of those edits originally proposed removing a 4,000-square-foot limit in the original amendment to, in Maxwell’s words, “provide a little more flexibility.” Commissioner Alice Woods proposed an alternative amendment to raise the limit to 7,000 square feet, which she noted would allow for four units of 1,750 square feet apiece. That passed unanimously.

Another would modify a vaguely worded requirement for developers to include elevators, which would kick in at four stories and up. That also passed unanimously, with minimal discussion.

The third edit changes language in several places in the amendment to include references to six-story buildings. Maxwell said this was intended to bring the amendment in line with those adopted by other cities across the country. Like the others, it passed unanimously.

“I think this amendment really just shows that the city of Austin wants to do the best it can with housing, be that through zoning or Technical Building Code updates, or in any way possible,” Maxwell said.

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