San Antonio \u2014 SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Some local bars are under fire for not meeting a safety law passed seven years ago that requires large bars and clubs to install fire sprinklers.<\/p>\n
The 2018 city ordinance brought San Antonio\u2019s entertainment scene up to international fire code standards. It mandates that any venue with a capacity of more than 300 people must have a sprinkler system installed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was really a safety ordinance,\u201d said Councilwoman Sukh Kaur, who represents much of the downtown entertainment district. \u201cThe goal is for us not to shut down businesses; it\u2019s to create safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaur says businesses were given five years to comply, but COVID-19 slowed down many owners\u2019 efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring COVID, that caused a huge break,\u201d Kaur said. \u201cAt the end of the day, the goal is for us not to shut down businesses \u2014 it\u2019s to create safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Antonio Fire Department Deputy Chief Christopher Monestier said the clubs and bars got extra time as enforcement began late last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t get out of the issue that the life-safety situation is still there,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re not in compliance, and we need to work toward something. That\u2019s why they\u2019re receiving citations. The enforcement efforts are escalating, and we\u2019ve exhausted pretty much everything we could do.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the city\u2019s Fire Marshal, several popular venues must now comply, including The Heat, Bonham, Paper Tiger, Club 727, and I-10 Ice House.<\/p>\n
If they don\u2019t, they face fines of up to $2,000 every two weeks.<\/p>\n
The owner of I-10 Ice House told FOX SA the bar hired an architect and an engineer to lower occupancy below 299 by adding a firewall. \u201cPlans are at the city and pending approval after the city asked for changes. We stay in touch with fire to know the progress,\u201d the owner said.<\/p>\n
Kaur says The Gallery on the St. Mary\u2019s Strip closed its doors in May, while the owner of Southtown Joe\u2019s chose to lower occupancy below 300 to stay open.<\/p>\n
One business that was on the list but was able to work with the city is Southtown Joe’s. \u201cThe fire department told me any building above a certain occupancy needed a sprinkler system,\u201d said owner Michael Specia. \u201cOurs was rated for 380 people, but that never made sense for our space. I worked with them to lower it to something realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specia said he spent two years working to prove his bar\u2019s capacity was below 300, saving his business. Installing a sprinkler system, he said, would have cost between $130,000 and $190,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t own the building, and the owners couldn\u2019t afford it either,\u201d Specia said. \u201cIt would\u2019ve put me out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Kaur says her office is working with clubs to offer extensions if they can show progress. \u201cIt\u2019s been really tough for some of the owners,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they can show us they have a plan and a timeline, we\u2019ll hold off and give them some grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that her office wants to help LGBTQ+ bars, such as Bonham Exchange and The Heat, which serve as \u201csafe spaces for LGBTQ+ community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief Monestier said the department\u2019s focus remains on safety. \u201cWe\u2019re not in the business of shutting down businesses 100 percent,\u201d he said. \u201cBut every business has a duty to keep patrons safe and comply with the city\u2019s adopted fire codes.\u201d<\/p>\n
After seven years, the city says it has reached the end of the grace period.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019ll be occurring here very, very soon,\u201d Monestier said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much the last-ditch effort. As far as enforcement goes, we\u2019ve exhausted all options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Late Monday, the fire department told FOX San Antonio that Soundcheck is now in the process of installing sprinklers.<\/p>\n
We filed numerous open records requests 2 weeks ago. We are still waiting for Municipal Court records, among other documents, to see just how much clubs on this list have been fined. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio \u2014 SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Some local bars are under fire for not meeting a safety law…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12410,12412,3681,12411,11077,12409,12413,12408,82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-15174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-bar-safety","9":"tag-business-compliance","10":"tag-city-ordinance","11":"tag-covid-19-impact","12":"tag-fire-code","13":"tag-fire-sprinklers","14":"tag-lgbtq-bars","15":"tag-major-story","16":"tag-san-antonio","17":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","18":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}