Groups tell Lisle new code is trouble

Some Lisle residents are looking for a reprieve from new life safety codes being enforced by the village.

The village board approved a new life safety code for multifamily units last year upon the recommendation of the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Department.

Two homeowners association leaders told board members Monday evening that the new safety guidelines require upgrades that are too costly to implement.

Those upgrades include, among other things, replacing fire alarm systems and raising the height of railings.

About 40 people attended the meeting and many of them clapped as two residents requested that board members issue a variance waiving the upgrades.

If there's no imminent threat to life safety, then why do they need to go through with such costly repairs, asked John Kurak, president of The Oaks at Green Trails condo association.

Kurak's homeowners association may need to request $3,000 from each unit to cover the charge of upgrades to the complex's fire alarm system and railing heights -- estimated at $300,000.

"You just don't have reserves for something like this," he said. "There's reserves for roof repairs, but nothing like this."

Another resident called the codes a "nightmare" visually and economically.

Village officials agreed to examine the codes on a case by case basis.

"What we're not going to do at this time is a general grandfathering," he said. "They all have their own individual characteristics that need to be dealt with one on one."