July 30th, 2012 by WCBC Radio
The Allegany County Commissioners have begun the process that will delay the state’s mandated sprinkler program for another three years. County Attorney Bill Rudd explained that basically the state has backed the off the mandate until 2015. County and municipal governments last year were told they needed to vote opt-out of the program that would have required all new residential homes to have expensive fire suppression sprinkler systems included. However a few months ago, the commissioners learned that Annapolis decided to make the systems mandatory regardless of whether local government had decided to opt out. It now appears that won’t be the case. The county can opt out prior to October, and then not be subject to the state mandate until the next code cycle in 2015. The Commissioners do not oppose the safety measure, but rather are simply trying to avoid yet another deterrent to new home construction in the county. Commissioner Bill Valentine says that the county hopes to develop an incentive program to encourage sprinklers to be part of new home constructions…
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