Hey all,
The City is currently going through the process of updating its technical codes, including the building code, which controls the design of any residential structure with more than three floors or more than two units. Last year city council unanimously passed a resolution calling for single-stair reform to be included in updates to the building code. After some delays, this process is really getting going this week and headed to a final council vote in likely March or April.
This new website from local advocates has a lot of information on what single-stair is, why it’s important, and how single-stair buildings work in other countries and in other US cities like Seattle & New York. It’s a really hot topic in architecture right now and a lot of other US cities and states (including California, Oregon, Washington, and Minnesota) have adopted similar resolutions directing code updates to include single-stair reform.
This change affects many different dimensions of housing at once, so this will not be an exhaustive list of the benefits, but I think the central points of the case for single-stair are:
- Making it easier to build “multi-aspect” units, I.E. units with windows on more than one wall
- Allowing developers to build larger, family-sized units; because it becomes easier to add windowed bedrooms
- Enabling more infill development; because single-stair buildings do not require large hallways connecting the staircases which therefore enables smaller, more flexible designs for otherwise challenging lot shapes & sizes
- Making small ground-floor commercial easier to build because less of the sidewalk frontage on narrow lots is chewed up by the width of multiple exits
I think these benefits make single-stair a natural fit for FAN’s vision of a sustainable & affordable city and an important part of furthering Austin’s urban growth. If you’d like to read more, the single stair atx website has a lot of good information or you can read these articles from Strong Towns, Harvard’s Joint Center For Housing Studies, or Architectural Record. The Austin chapter of the American Institute of Architects also wrote this letter cataloging their response as a profession to potential concerns about single-stair and explaining why they support reforming the code to allow these designs.
So with all that said, I would like to propose a resolution for FAN to formally take a policy position in support of a local amendment to the building code allowing mid-rise multi-family buildings centered on a single stair & elevator up to 7 stories or 85 feet in height. (The same height currently allowed for the “5-over-1” apartments commonly built in Austin today)
