Shade structures pre-approved in California, by DSA

[John Fisher]

Hi Friends,

As schools may be looking to bring instruction outdoors, here is an update which includes details and a "pre-checked" list of pre-approved shade structures for CA schools. This was sent on by Sharon Danks who is a leader in the National Covid 19 National Learning Initiative

National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative 

https://bit.ly/COVID-OutdoorLearning 

John Fisher
www.lifelab.org
831.471.7831 mobile

---------- Forwarded message ------

Begin forwarded message:

From: Sharon Danks <sha...@greenschoolyards.org>

Subject: Shade structures pre-approved in California, by DSA

Date: August 12, 2020 at 12:27:49 PM PDT

Hi everyone,

I’ve been researching which shade structures California’s Division of the State Architect (DSA) will allow to be installed to shade outdoor classrooms during the coming school year. I have been talking with their office directly, and they just produced a new document for us that adds some more detail to what they have online. Here’s what I found about three documents should be referring to:

1. Their document, entitled BU 20.01, is DSA’s formal communication bulletin about emergency school facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The link above will take you to the document on their website, and I’m enclosing this PDF below. Read this one as your starting point.

2. DSA also has a list of pre-approved shade structures (“Pre Check Approval List"). This list is on their website, and I’m also enclosing a copy of it below, in Excel format, that I modified. The original document lives on DSA’s website on this page, under the section titled Approved Pre-Check List. You will see that this list is extensive and also not very user friendly… the code numbers are not that helpful by themselves.

In the version of the document I’m enclosing below, I added a tab.  The second tab in this excel chart (“DSA List of Approved PCs”) is the original full list that they have on their website, with many entries that do not relate to outdoor learning needs. I made a copy of this sheet in a new tab (“DSA Approved Shade Structures”) and removed all of the entries that were not shade structures. So, this new tab that I added is a subset of the main one, and I’m guessing it might be easier for you to use.  

3. The third document I have for you is one that DSA just created to respond to my request on behalf of the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative. (Very exciting. I’m so glad they were willing to help.)  I asked for dimension information for the products they had pre-checked. This list is short: just six vendors, and they have multiple products each. I also added a note they sent me to the chart with some further information about the limits of this pre-check approval list (it expires). This document is not (yet?) on their website, but I’m including it below. It is called 20-08-11_PC_ApprovalList_Fabric Shade Structs_Sizes.xlsx.  It only includes the fabric tents/shade structures that were on the list in #2 above. I received this list this morning, and wrote back with a follow up question to see if there are four more vendors they can add, who have recheck approval for carports and other sturdier structures.

My understanding is that Pre-Check approval makes it much faster and easier to get approval to install these structures, since they have already had their plans studied for engineering, stability, safety, etc. However, schools that want to put anything up that is more than 120 sq feet (small 10’x 12’ tents) are still required to file a formal permit request with your local DSA office.

Also, if your schools want to use other vendors who are not on this list, they may also be possible to install, but if they are not pre-check approved, it is likely to take longer. If your district files for approval of shade structures that are not on this list, it would be great if you can share that information with this group, in case your colleagues at other districts would also like to use the same structures. (I’m not sure if filing for a permit will automatically generate pre-check approval for others? Let’s look into that to save everyone time.)

I hope that helps!

Best,

Sharon

Sharon Danks, MLA-MCP

CEO, Green Schoolyards America

Berkeley, CA USA

greenschoolyards.org
sha...@greenschoolyards.org
510-872-4554

National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative 

https://bit.ly/COVID-OutdoorLearning 

Author, Asphalt to Ecosystems

https://bit.ly/A2E-Book