THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 51 lines
Tourism is a business largely dependent on two factors: positive publicity and good weather.
The weather is uncontrollable.
Publicity usually is not.
Imagine the publicity that would have resulted if a fire had burned a Virginia Beach hotel in the past seven years. Imagine if that fire could have been prevented by a sprinkler system, which, in fact, had been mandated by the state since 1990.
Exacerbating the horror of such a blaze would have been the media focus on the fact that local innkeepers were dragging their collective feet on installing life-saving sprinkler systems.
Fortunately, there have been no fires, no tragedies. Yet. As the March 1, 1997, deadline bears down on them, most Oceanfront hoteliers still have not complied with changes to the state code to make their establishments safer.
This presents a dilemma: to stand fast on the deadline and allow an undetermined number of hotels to be shut down and fined until they comply, or support state Sen. Ken Stolle's bill for a one-time extension until September.
We reluctantly support Senator Stolle's solution. As a practical matter, Virginia Beach needs its hotels. Inns are a major source of revenue for the city, and they are owned by local businessmen.
These businessmen argue convincingly that there have been mitigating circumstances delaying the installation of sprinklers: mainly lack of money.
With an estimated average cost of $100,000 per hotel, many owners say they simply could not afford to get the work done until now. In the aftermath of the Greekfest riots, they say banks were unwilling to lend money to Oceanfront businesses. During the recovery years, business was so sluggish that the bottom line could not support the costly improvements.
The innkeepers also criticize lawmakers for handing down such a costly mandate without making low-interest loans or tax credits available to defray some of the costs. One hotelier wryly noted that while Virginia forced all hotels to install sprinklers, the state has stalled legislation requiring high-rise college dormitories to be equipped with sprinklers - because those systems would be paid for with public funds.
We urge the General Assembly to support the Sept. 1 deadline extension, but the bill must include clear language that there will be no more extensions. And while they're at it, legislators ought to appropriate money to pay for sprinkler systems in all high-rise college dormitories. What's good for hotel guests ought to be good for college students, too.
Meanwhile, let us pray that Virginia Beach is spared the tragedy of an avoidable hotel fire for a few more months until owners finally complete installing sprinkler systems.