Monee Amends Building Code to Exempt Single- and Two-Family Homes From Sprinkler Rule

Village of Monee Board of Trustees Meeting | May 13, 2026

Article Summary: The Monee Village Board on Tuesday, May 13, 2026, approved three ordinances amending the village building code to ensure that single-family and two-family homes are not required to install fire sprinkler systems, correcting an oversight from the village’s adoption of the 2024 International Code Council codes.

Building Code Sprinkler Amendment Key Points:

• The board adopted three ordinances (Nos. 2142, 2143 and 2144) amending earlier building-code ordinances.
• The amendments exempt single-family (R3) and two-family homes from a sprinkler requirement embedded in the 2024 ICC codes.
• Building Services Director Lance Becvar said the issue surfaced when a submitted residential plan triggered the sprinkler requirement.
• All three ordinances passed 6-0; one trustee separately renewed a request for a dedicated meeting on the sprinkler issue.

MONEE — The Monee Village Board on Tuesday, May 13, 2026, approved a set of three ordinances amending the village’s building code to make clear that single-family and two-family homes will not be required to install fire sprinkler systems, fixing a gap that emerged after the village adopted updated national building codes.

Building Services Director Lance Becvar explained the background to the board. When the village adopted the 2024 International Code Council building codes in November — moving from a planned 2021 edition to the 2024 edition late in the process — the change was made quickly, he said. The codes as written require sprinkler systems in nearly all new construction, including the R3 occupancy classification that covers single-family and two-family homes.

Becvar said the board’s intent in November had been to opt out of requiring sprinklers in those homes, but that intent was not properly reflected in the adopted language. The problem came to light when staff reviewed a recently submitted residential building plan and found it would have triggered the sprinkler requirement. “In catching it with this building plan, we’ve submitted the three changes to amend it,” Becvar said.

He told the board the corrected ordinances would reflect what trustees wanted in November — that a single-family home and a two-family home would not be required to have a sprinkler system. Multi-family buildings such as apartment buildings would still be subject to the requirement.

Becvar said three separate ordinances were necessary because the relevant code books — the fire code, the building code, and the residential code — cross-reference one another. “They all intermingle, point toward each other,” he said, explaining that staff amended all three to capture every provision related to the sprinkler standard.

The three ordinances were taken up in sequence. Each amended a prior building-code ordinance, and each passed on a 6-0 roll-call vote, designated Ordinance Nos. 2142, 2143 and 2144.

Trustee Renews Call for Sprinkler Meeting

Despite the corrective action, the sprinkler question was not fully put to rest. During the unfinished-business portion of the meeting, a trustee said he still wanted a dedicated meeting to resolve the sprinkler matter conclusively. “I’d still like to have a meeting to rectify the sprinkler situation one way or the other. I have requested it several times in the past and we still haven’t gotten one,” he said. A response from the dais acknowledged that the board had committed to revisiting the code books and had not yet done so.