The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday tentatively approved updating the residential code without a controversial requirement for sprinkler systems in new single and two-family houses. The code would make builders tell house buyers that such systems are available.

At a council committee of the whole meeting Tuesday afternoon representatives of the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri, the carpenters union and Realtors favored the code. They said sprinklers were a costly feature that hardly anyone wants. They warned that the cost would price some buyers out of the new house market and hurt a struggling industry. The presidents of the local associations for fire chiefs and fire marshals said residential sprinkler systems would save lives.

The council meeting unanimously recommended that the full council approve the code without requiring sprinklers. Introduced at the council meeting were bills to update the building, existing building, mechanical, electrical, property maintenance and plumbing codes. The committee of the whole will consider these bills at 4 p.m. next Tuesday.