Reprising this post because folks keep asking me about it via email, etc.

These thresholds fit a three story apartment building or mixed use building into the fire/life safety requirements of the International Building Code (IBC) and the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act.

1. All ground floor units are accessible/adaptable (minimum one unit). 2. TYPE V wood frame construction with fire sprinklers. 3. When built with a single stair, upper stories are limited to four units each. (more than 4 units on a floor and two stair will be required separated by a rated corridor at least 1/2 the diagonal of the building floor plate in length --1/3 for buildings with fire sprinklers.) 4. 2nd floor units are limited in size to 125′ max. exiting distance from the furthest point inside the unit to the entry door. 5. 3rd floor units are limited in size to 125′ max. exiting distance from the furthest point inside the unit to the entry door. (3rd floor units can be two story units with internal stairs as long as the max. exiting distance of 125' is observed).

Code research and design by David Kim

A comment from Will Dowdy:

This is a good summary. It’s probably worth being explicit about that ground floor unit. If you don’t have a unit on the ground floor, the requirement for accessibility is shifted to the second floor of the building, which means that you’re stuck with an elevator. BIG problem. This design is an elegant solution.

Since putting up the To Do List yesterday, I have had a number of folks ask me "What's this shark tank thing?"

The Shark Tank is  a platform for recruiting and accelerating the skills of small developer/builders and laying the groundwork for incremental development in a neighborhood or municipality.  It works like this:

• Recruit likely new developers from the local area with help from local trade suppliers, the Lumberyards, Truss companies, Drywall Supplier, Plumbing, HVAC and Electrical Supply House.  Who among their customers look promising for stepping up their enterprise so they can build infill/retrofit projects at a small and incremental scale.  Make the rounds with the local Chambers of Commerce, the NAIOP, ULI, churches, banks & credit unions and the entrepreneurship programs at the Community Colleges and Universities.

• Candidates get homework and guidance on how to prepare development proposals for several local sites based upon the Charter and within a prescribed area to "flood the zone" with as many small operators as possible for maximum impact.  They are now on a clock and must focus on completing the homework on deadline.

• The municipality has made plans for capital projects that make the prescribed area for the projects viable, traffic calming, bike and transit investments, an overlay of code reform and removal of minimum off-street parking requirements. Establishing a Pink Zone (See www.LeanUrbanism.org) as preparation for the Shark Tank event would reinforce the importance of adopting the right code platform.

• Candidates bring their proposals to a 4 day intense workshop with solid coaches and specialists who help them understand the fundamentals and strengthen their pitches.

• On the fourth day they pitch their deals to qualified investors and construction lenders who are there because they are aligned in interest with the goals of the effort and have signed on to the criteria that all the deals much meet in order to be pitched to them.

• Coaches follow up with the developer/builders whose deals are funded and sort out a gameplan for refining and improving the pitches of deals that are not funded with the initial round.

• While competing for investment the developer/builders form a cohort that can provide continued support.  Coaches will reinforce the realities of the market and the need to build capacity and the right code and public infrastructure to sustain infill and retrofit. Their competition for resources is the conventional development at the edge of town.  There are more than enough sites to occupy all the candidates and the market for infill and retrofit cannot be satisfied in the next 20 years.

Here is the To Do List I accumulated  at CNU 23 in Dallas

• Figure out ways to reinforce the connections between the rapidly growing ranks of the Rookie Developers to reduce everyone's learning curve.

• Set Up FaceBook Groups for Small Developer/Builders with a sub-set the "CNU Lady Developers". (and no, I did not name the group...)

• Develop a TurboTax-like Wizard for developing basic development pro formas with Keith Hopkins of Stage Capital Group.

• Webinar with Mike Hathorne on using Google Earth to organize site selection materials for small projects.

• Get a working group going with bankers and appraisers to vet the patches, hacks and workarounds needed for small projects in walkable urbanism.

• Line up one Small Developer/Builder "Shark Tank" and get it funded.

• Submit comments to HUD on expanding the amount of non-residential space in mixed use building financed with the HUD 221(d)(4) Loan program. (Proposed changes in the HUD MAP Manual are still in the public comment phase which closes May 14th).

• Get materials into shape for the Lean Urbanism "Developer in a Box" Tool by October.

• Coordinate the framework for the Lean Building Types Tool with Bill Dennis and David Kim so that it dovetails with the Curated Sketch-Up building types tool kit Bill is shepherding.

• Figure out the communications strategy for recruiting and mentoring small developers builders with Ben Brown and Scott Doyon.

• Figure out a structure for rookie developers to do their first project next to seasoned operators, (sort of like a medical residency).

There is clearly a lot to do. In addition to all this mentoring and advocacy, David Kim and I have our own projects to deliver between now and CNU 24 in Detroit  June 8-11, 2016. A number of people have volunteered to help with this stuff, but don't be surprised if I am calling you to enlist you in the effort.  Contact me on Facebook if you want to be added to the Small Developer/Builders group.  Email me if you want to help with something on this list.  janderson@andersonkim.com

Post a comment here on the blog or email me if I told you that I would put something on this list and have forgotten it.  It has been a big week and I am pretty sure that something important has slipping my mind by now....