DORMITORIES
Dormitories
Summer is coming to a close. We hate to admit it. Soon
thousands of students in the Garden State will be packing
their cars to the brim with clothes, TV’s, computers and
heading of to college.
We all remember that terrible night in January of 2000
when three students lost their lives in a dormitory fire at
Seton Hall. One of the young men lived in my district in
Monmouth County. Unfortunately we discovered too late that
there was no building code requirement for low rise
dormitories to have fire suppression systems. It has been
argued that if the Seton Hall dormitory had a fire
suppression system no lives would have been lost, nor would
dozens of others been injured.
Realizing that the State must change its inadequate
building code I sponsored “The Dormitory Trust Fund Act.” I
and my colleagues worked together to stress the importance
of protecting our children when they are away at school.
With this law, we undertook the most comprehensive school
construction project in state history.
When the legislation was being debated, school officials
were concerned that retrofitting the sprinkler systems in
older dorm buildings would displace thousands of students,
and that a short deadline would encourage price gouging by
suppliers. The schools sought a 10 year deadline. I insisted
on a shorter time frame. My bill embodied a compromise and
set a four year deadline, and dedicated $90 million in loans
to pay for the work.
Four years later, New Jersey’s 47 residential schools
have run out of time to have sprinkler systems installed in
all of their dorms. When inspections were last performed, in
March 2004, 40 of the schools had completed the work. The
seven that had not completed the installations, including
Princeton University and Bloomfield College, were expected
to make sure the work was completed by the deadline which
was August 1, 2004.
Though the deadline was tight, most schools completed the
work within the timeframe necessary. However, there are
schools, such as Garden State Academy in Tranquility, a
religious high school that faces $23,000 in fines for
missing deadlines. They have since completed the sprinkler
installation. The Rabbi Jacob Joseph School in Edison faces
$36,000 in fines for having only 25 percent of its dorms.
Penalties, while cumbersome, are necessary to obtain
compliance.
There are no other states that require sprinkler
installation in dorms, however, due to the emotional
subject, protecting our children, parents are inquiring,
when they go to orientation, about sprinkler systems in the
dorms. As a result of this powerful force, Notre Dame,
Fordham University and Boston College are among the schools
that voluntarily installed sprinkler systems in their
dormitories.
For more information on the Dormitory Trust Fund Act,
please contact my office at (732)708-0900, or
asmcorodemus@njleg.org
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