Florida Building
Issue: DS-2014-163 Petitioner Robert S. Fine, Esq., AIA., representing All Aboard Florida, seeks a Declaratory Statement on 2010 Florida Building Code Building, Chapter 1, Sections 102.2(b) and 105.
Background:
Situation:
All Aboard Florida, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries, LLC
("FECI"), is constructing an express, intercity passenger rail service scheduled to be in operation by 2016. The All Aboard Florida route is approximately 235 miles, with stops in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando International Airport. As such, it will be constructed in, and run through, at least eight counties and numerous local jurisdictions with (building) permitting authority. In order to meet the requirements of various federal regulations, and provide a high quality and safe system, Petitioner will be engaging the services of qualified private provider(s) to perform plan review and inspections of its construction.
According to the Petitioner, by doing so this will eliminate the risk of building code inter interpretations varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction for what amounts to a single system tied to a continuous set of rails running through the numerous counties and cities described above. It is petitioner's position that it is exempt from the provisions of the Florida Building Code ("FBC"), including its permitting requirements, because it is a railroad.
2010 Florida Building Code, Building
102.2 Building. The provisions of the Florida Building Code shall apply to the construction, erection, alteration, modification, repair, equipment, use and occupancy, location, maintenance, removal and demolition of every public and private building, structure or facility or floating residential structure, or any appurtenances connected or attached to such buildings, structures or facilities. Additions, alterations, repairs and changes of use or occupancy group in all buildings and structures shall comply with the provisions provided in Chapter 34 of this code. The following buildings, structures and facilities are exempt from the Florida Building Code as provided by law, and any further exemptions shall be as determined by the legislature and provided by law:
(b) Railroads and ancillary facilities associated with the railroad.
105.1 Required. Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy of a building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any impact resistant coverings, electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by this code, or to cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit.
CHAPTER 2 DEFINITIONS
SECTION 201 GENERAL
201.4 Terms not defined. Words not defined herein shall have the meanings stated in the Florida Building Code, Plumbing, Mechanical and Fuel Gas, or the Florida Fire Prevention Code. Words not defined in the Florida Building Codes, shall have the meanings in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged.
Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
an·cil·lar·y /ansəˌlerē/ adjective
1. Subordinate, Subsidiary
1.1. Auxiliary
1.2. Related
1.3 Subordinate or auxiliary to a primary or principal legal document, proceeding, office, or officer
rail·road /rālˌrōd/ noun
1. Railway
2a. A permanent road having a line of rails fixed to the ties and laid to gauge usually on a leveled or graded ballasted roadbed and providing a track for freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock designed to be drawn by locomotives or sometimes propelled by self-contained motors.
2b. such a road together with all of the lands, buildings, rolling stock, franchises, and other assets relating thereto and constituting a single property.
2014 Florida Statutes
341.8203 Definitions.
(4) “High-speed rail system” means any high-speed fixed guideway system for transporting people or goods, which system is, by definition of the United States Department of Transportation, reasonably expected to reach speeds of at least 110 miles per hour, including, but not limited to, a monorail system, dual track rail system, suspended rail system, magnetic levitation system, pneumatic repulsion system, or other system approved by the enterprise. The term includes a corridor, associated intermodal connectors, and structures essential to the operation of the line, including the land, structures, improvements, rights-of-way, easements, rail lines, rail beds, guideway structures, switches, yards, parking facilities, power relays, switching houses, and rail stations and also includes facilities or equipment used exclusively for the purposes of design, construction, operation, maintenance, or the financing of the high-speed rail system.
(6) “Rail station,” “station,” or “high-speed rail station” means any structure or transportation facility that is part of a high-speed rail system designed to accommodate the movement of passengers from one mode of transportation to another at which passengers board or disembark from transportation conveyances and transfer from one mode of transportation to another.
(7) “Railroad company” means a person developing, or providing service on, a high-speed rail system.
553.73 Florida Building Code
(10) The following buildings, structures, and facilities are exempt from the Florida Building Code as provided by law, and any further exemptions shall be as determined by the Legislature and provided by law:
(b) Railroads and ancillary facilities associated with the railroad.
Staff Analysis
Note: The answers to the questions below are those of the Petitioner’s answers as provided in the declaratory statement request. Staff is in support of the Petitioner’s answers.
Question 1: Is All Aboard Florida, the passenger rail system being constructed and to be operated by the Petitioner (including the ancillary facilities associated with it) a railroad that is exempt from the FBC (including but not limited to Section 105 of the FBC) by the language itself at Section 102.2(b), and as mandated by Section 553.73(10)(b) of the Florida Statutes?
Answer: Yes, the passenger rail system being constructed, and to be operated and maintained by the Petitioner is a railroad and ancillary facilities associated with the railroad as set forth in Section 102(b) of the FBC and Section 553.73(10)(b) of the Florida Statutes and is therefore exempt from the provisions of the FBC, including but not limited to Section 105 of the FBC’s permitting requirements.
Question 2: Do structures such as rail lines, rail beds, guideway structures, switches, parking facilities, power relays, switching houses and (notably) rail stations that are essential to the operation of the rail line fall within either the definition of railroad, or the definition of ancillary facilities associated with the railroad as set forth in Section 102.2 (b) of the FBC and therefore exempt from the FBC including its permitting requirements?
Answer: Yes. As set forth in Section 341.8203, Florida Statutes, structures such as rail lines, rail beds, guideway structures, switches, parking facilities, power relays, switching houses and rail stations that are essential to the operation of the rail line fall within the definition of railroad and are therefore exempt from the FBC and its permitting requirements based on the exemptions provided in Section 102.2 (b) of the FBC and Section 553.73(10)(b) of the Florida Statutes.
Question 3: Do some or all of the following elements of the rail stations included in the response to Question 2 of the Petition fall within the definition of railroad and ancillary facilities associated with the railroad as set forth on Section 102.2(b) of the FBC and Section 553.73(10)(b) of the Florida Statutes and are therefore exempt from the provisions of the FBC including Section 105 of the FBC’s permitting requirements:
•buildings and facilities designed to accommodate the movement of passengers from one mode of transportation to another including platforms and facilities at which passengers board or disembark from transportation conveyances (e.g., trains);
•ticketing facilities, information stands, waiting areas, sanitary facilities for passengers and staff, and offices for railroad staff;
•demised areas and other spaces intended to contain retail sales and/or service establishments, and restaurants and/or other food or beverage service establishments;
• retail sales and/or service establishments, restaurants and/or other food or beverage service establishments that will be tenants in the rail stations’ “demised areas and other spaces” mentioned immediately above;
• surface or structured parking serving the passengers and railroad staff may be adjacent to, or integral with the rail stations;
•crew and other train staff rest areas; and
•facilities to service the trains including food supply (including kitchen) facilities.
Answer: The elements of the rail stations proposed by Petitioner that are exempt from the FBC pursuant to Sec 102.2(b) and Section 557.73(10)(b), Florida
Statutes are:
•buildings and facilities designed to accommodate the movement of passengers from one mode of transportation to another including platforms and facilities at which passengers board or disembark from transportation conveyances (e.g., trains);
•ticketing facilities, information stands, waiting areas, sanitary facilities for passengers and staff, and offices for railroad staff;
•demised areas and other spaces intended to contain retail sales and/or service establishments, and restaurants and/or other food or beverage service establishments;
•surface or structured parking serving the passengers and railroad staff adjacent to, or integral with the rail stations; and
•crew and other train staff rest areas; and
•facilities to service the trains including food supply (including kitchen) facilities.
Retail sales and/or service establishments, restaurants and/or other food or beverage service establishments that will be tenants in the rail stations’ “demised areas and other spaces” are not exempt from the FBC pursuant to Section 102.2(b). However, ticketing facilities, information stands, waiting areas, sanitary facilities, and offices for railroad staff—elements that are “essential to the operation of the railroad occupying the “demised and other spaces” are exempt from the FBC pursuant to Section 102.2(b) and Section 553.73(10)(b) of the Florida Statutes.
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