Building Code Changes in Memphis

Reforms Galesburg could adopt too

Hey everyone, hope all are well after this snow storm. I had a bigger article I was going to publish today but I am absolutely beat after the snow we just had. I work in transportation and days with bad winter weather are often the hardest days of the year so I didn’t have much brain energy to finish everything up.

But I don’t want to leave you empty handed. I want to recommend this article on the Strong Towns website called “A Trailblazing Reform Supports Small-Scale Development in Memphis” by Daniel Herriges.

Memphis has really taken the reins over the last few years of really trying to do what they can to support real growth in their city. After years of failed mega projects, like the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid, the city is looking smaller and finding good results.

These changes were to their building code. The building codes are very specific codes having to do with how buildings are built. They are kinda opaque to people outside the profession, but can have great effects on what kind of buildings can be built at what ease.

Friction in building codes can make certain projects financially unviable even if they would be to great benefit. One of the main frictions in the modern era is sprinkler systems. We all know that fire prevention is important, it is truly a matter of life and death for the people inside the building. In most people’s houses, there aren’t sprinklers and it would be extraordinarily costly to make sure every house needs sprinklers. It’s also relatively safe without needing them. Same goes for a duplex, we don’t require sprinklers for duplexes and it’s not a massive fire hazard. 

But what about a triplex? Triplexes can look and function just like houses in the same way duplexes can. But triplexes and higher have to use the code for commercial properties, while single family and duplexes use a different less-stringent residential code. Does adding one more unit really warrant using a much more expensive code?

While Memphis made a number of changes to their building code there was one that seemed very important to me. They changed the rules so that apartment buildings with 3 to 6 units can use the residential building code instead of the commercial code. This opens the door to many more buildings with 3 to 6 units being financially viable to build. It also isn’t a big sacrifice in terms of fire safety.

This is a type of reform I think Galesburg should consider. If we want growth and we want it to happen naturally, we need to be able to let these types of projects happen. Infill projects with 3-6 units is way less destructive than doing massive apartment complex projects that are only profitable at scale.

Anyway this became way longer than intended. But I urge you to go read the article and learn about what changes are possible.