Taylor is requiring a fire sprinkler system for my AirBnB?!

[Terry Green]

Our 1600 sqft house is located off a commercial street in Taylor. It has been an insurance office, floral shop and financial office. The house, with its wrap around porch, is zoned B-1. After getting the blessing from the city planning dept. back in September 2021, we decided to turn the house into a short term rental. We spent almost $18,000 in appliances, flatscreens, bed frames, mattresses , furniture, supplies  etc. It took almost 2 months for the city planning department to process our occupancy permit request. They had no idea how to classify our operation since there is no short term rental regulations in their housing code. They finally decided we were a hotel and thus responsible for the submitting the 7% city hotel tax. On the day our fire marshal was to arrive to initiate our  final inspection, he called and asked what specifically were we planning to do with the property. I explained (again) our business plan as it relates to short term rentals. I could tell by his voice that he was perplexed. He concluded that they would consider changing our B-1  zoning to a R-3 zone,  which would require us to have a fire sprinkler installed before the inspection can even begin. Most commercial buildings that are at least 6,000 sq ft require a fire sprinkler system. But they  are  placing that  same standard to a 1600 sq ft building with 3 bedrooms at a cost of 5-10 thousand dollars!  I am having a company come by tomorrow and give me a closer estimate. There is about 5-6 other Airbnbs in this town that I am sure didnt have to comply with fire sprinklers. When I asked the fire marshal about that,  he stated that he could not  speak about other businesses. I assume that was a "no". Can anyone give me an idea what my next step should be?