The city could shut down dozens of local businesses at the end of 2012, including the Station House restaurant at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, if owners do not install costly sprinkler systems, according to a new code the City Council is considering. The rule change, backed by Chattanooga Fire Marshal James Whitmire, requires that existing sports bars, restaurants with live entertainment, dance halls, discotheques, nightclubs and “assembly occupancies with festival seating” install sprinkler systems.
Full disclosure: I originally wrote this story several weeks ago, but it affects bars and booze in the Chattanooga area, so I’ve reposted it here. Enjoy!
Read full story at the Chattanooga Times Free Press
The cost is $2 to $12 per square foot, or an average of $50,000 to $70,000 per business with an occupancy over 100, officials say. The City Council on Tuesday night deferred action on the code for two weeks to allow the city attorney’s office time to set a definition of “nightclubs” affected by the ordinance.
Chuganooga 