Bill > HB1273

This bill addresses residential building stair design in Colorado municipalities with populations over 100,000 served by an accredited fire protection district. By December 1, 2027, these municipalities must modify their building codes to allow multifamily residential buildings up to 5 stories to be served by a single exit, subject to specific safety requirements. These requirements include mandatory full building sprinkler systems, automatic smoke detection, limited travel distances to exit stairways, maximum floor and unit occupancy restrictions, two-hour fire-rated stair construction, and other detailed safety provisions. The bill aims to enable more flexible housing construction, particularly on smaller urban infill lots, by allowing single-stairway designs that can create more efficient and potentially more affordable housing. The legislative declaration emphasizes that this approach can support housing supply, unit design flexibility, and potentially improve residential safety and energy efficiency. Importantly, the bill only applies to specific jurisdictions and does not mandate changes to zoning codes, and it clarifies that adopting these building code modifications does not trigger other building code adoption requirements.

Housing and Urban Affairs

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1273