Trees may survive LMH power line project

Lawrence Memorial Hospital may not have to cut down two large oak trees as part of its $40 million expansion.

But several trees on a vacated portion of Alabama Street between Third and Fourth streets may have to be removed to make way for power lines that would serve the expanded hospital.

Construction engineers on the project told commissioners that they were looking at the Alabama Street option after members of the Pinckney Neighborhood Association expressed concern about a power line along Maine Street that would affect several trees between Third and Fourth streets.

Property owners along the abandoned stretch of Alabama Street – which runs along the east edge of the Medical Arts Building, 346 Maine – have not yet been approached about the prospect of a power line running near their property.

If objections arise to that plan, the hospital will look at putting the line along parts of the east and west side of Maine Street in a zigzag manner in an attempt to avoid several of the larger trees on the block.

New building codes get initial approval

Commissioners took the first steps in adopting several new building codes, including a fire code that would require all new apartment complexes to have fire sprinklers.

Commissioners unanimously said they wanted staff to bring back ordinances within the next six months that would adopt the new ICC family of codes for building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire code regulations.

Members of the city’s Board of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters and the city’s Mechanical Code Board of Appeals expressed concern about the new codes. Representatives from those boards said the new codes were too vague in places and were more cumbersome to follow.

Several other members of the building industry, though, said the ICC codes were a significant improvement from the current codes.

In addition to requiring sprinklers for new apartment buildings of three or more units, the Fire Code would ban the use of charcoal or gas grills on wood decks of apartment complexes.