Ramapo, NY Fire Regulations: Smoke Detectors (2026)

Ramapo's R-15C District allows an existing single-family home to be converted into multiple dwelling units, and § 376-99 sets the conditions the Planning Board and Building Inspector use to approve that conversion. Subsection G requires each resulting dwelling unit to carry both smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, installed specifically at the top of stairways or at bedroom entrances so residents get an early warning before smoke or gas reaches sleeping areas. The same section also requires at least one off-street parking space per unit, sets a 450-square-foot minimum floor area per unit unless circumstances warrant less, bars any dwelling unit from being placed in an attic or a detached accessory structure, and prohibits roomers and boarders in converted units.

Subsection B separately requires every unit created under this article to comply with the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code and with Chapter 144, Fire Prevention, of the Ramapo Town Code, layering the state fire code on top of this zoning-specific detector placement rule. Applications go through the Director of Building, Planning and Zoning and the Community Design Review Committee, whose report the Building Inspector relies on before making a determination, with authority to refer the matter to the Planning Board at any time.

Because this provision lives in the zoning chapter's residential-conversion article rather than the townwide fire chapter, it binds only conversions in the R-15C District; other homes in the unincorporated Town rely on the state Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, enforced through Chapter 144 by the Bureau of Fire Prevention, rather than this specific placement requirement.