Revere, MA Building Safety: Fire Sprinkler Requirements (2026)

020, 'General Laws Accepted,' of the Revere Municipal Code. c. 148, § 26I, any building constructed after acceptance, or later substantially rehabilitated to the equivalent of new construction, that is occupied for residential use and contains four or more dwelling units, including apartment houses, lodging houses, boarding houses, fraternity houses, dormitories, townhouses, condominiums, hotels, motels or group residences, must be equipped with an approved automatic sprinkler system meeting the state building code. Where an adequate water supply is unavailable, the fire chief may approve an alternative fire-suppressant system in place of sprinklers.

Revere did not leave the trigger phrase undefined: its own acceptance ordinance sets the local meaning of 'substantially rehabilitated' as 'complete rehabilitation of the structure to the equivalent of new construction,' closing off ambiguity that produced litigation elsewhere in Massachusetts, including the Supreme Judicial Court's MacLaurin v. City of Holyoke decision. Revere had already separately accepted §§ 26E, 26G and 26H of Chapter 148 in 1989, covering smoke detectors and sprinkler requirements for nonresidential and lodging structures, so the 1996 acceptance of § 26I specifically closes the gap for larger residential buildings. 050 as often as necessary.