Palm Beach Gardens, FL Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

Code § 38-89(a) lists the occupancies that trigger a mandatory automatic sprinkler system under the City of Palm Beach Gardens Fire Code, Article III of Chapter 38. For residential uses specifically, hotels and motels must sprinkler the entire structure unless it is a one-story building with one exit to the outside per room. Nontransient apartment buildings, including condominiums, must sprinkler if they are three or more stories or over 30 feet in height. New single-family dwellings trigger the requirement only once living space (space under air) exceeds 4,999 square feet, and the section specifies that this threshold applies to new construction only, not existing homes.

The same subsection separately requires sprinklers for places of assembly seating 250 or more, houses of worship seating 475 or more, office buildings of three stories, over 30 feet, or over 10,000 square feet per floor, mercantile space of 7,500 square feet or more, and underground parking structures, among other listed occupancies; where multiple occupancy types combine, the most stringent applicable requirement governs. Section 38-88 lets the fire marshal accept alternative systems that provide a substantially equivalent level of safety, on written application supported by engineering evidence; the fire marshal's decision can be appealed to the Fire Code Board of Adjustment and Appeals, staffed by the planning, zoning, and appeals board, within 30 days.

Under Section 38-91, plans for any required sprinkler system must be filed with the fire marshal at least five days before a building permit issues, and the fire marshal has three days to approve or reject them, followed by a pre-occupancy inspection.