CAO 96-01CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
City Attorney's Office
Memorandum
To:
From:
Scrgio Roddguez
City Manager
Murray H. Dubbin, Es~~
City Attorney
Rhonda L. Montoya, E ~,f~%
Senior Assismt City Attorney
Date: June 12, 1998
Subject: City Ordinance No. 96-3045
Your Transmittat Form: Request for Legal Opinion of May 8, 1998 questions which edition
of the Life Safety Code our Fire Prevention Bureau should be currently enforcing on existing
buildings, the 1985 or 1991 version.
The City of Miami Beach adopted Ordinance No. 96-3045 on June 19, ~996. The ordinance
specifically mends Section 14-2 of the City Code to provide in pertinent part:
Section 14.2 Adoption by reference.
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101, Life Safety
Code, 1991 edition is hereby adopted by reference...
(emphasis added).
It should be noted that in passing this Ordinance, language which referred to the 1985 edition
of the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code was specifically deleted in favor of the 1991 edition. In addition,
any distinction between current existing buildings and/or structures and new ones was also deleted.
The verbiage with regard to a Financial and Loan Program is contained only in a "WHEREAS"
clause, and thus is not the controlling part of the Ordinance.
Therefore, the 1991 edition of the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, 1991 was to be enfomed by
the City's Fire Prevention Bureau beginning October 1, 1996, the specified effective date of the
ordinance as to all buildings or structures in the City of Miami Beach. This Ordinance remains the
current law for the City.
CC:
Mayra Diaz-Buttacavoli, Assistant City Manager
Luis Garcia, Fire Chief