Saanich Calls for British Columbia to Allow Smaller Elevators

Six resolutions from the District of Saanich, British Columbia, Canada, will be debated at the annual conference of the Union of B.C. Municipalities in Victoria this fall, including one calling for B.C. to adopt European elevator size standards, the Times Colonist reports. Saanich Councillor Teale Phelps Bondaroff, who leads the push for the resolution, said that adopting European standards would encourage installation of more elevators in new buildings, as well as increase the market for elevator parts that are the global standard. This increase, he said, would also make the parts less expensive. Phelps Bondaroff noted that North America, which requires larger elevators, has some of the most expensive elevator costs in the world. If adopted, the resolution would allow for less-costly smaller elevators in mid-rise buildings, but not high-rise buildings, where existing codes require a certain size for multiple reasons, including being able to fit a paramedic’s stretcher.