A board decision earlier today should please a host of worried brides-to-be and their families who are counting on holding wedding receptions at the stately Corinthian Ballroom in downtown Roanoke.

The decision certainly pleased the co-owners of the building at 109 Kirk Ave. Victoria Longley, who also owns Chanticleer Catering, wept tears of happiness and relief and hugged attorney Brett Marston.

In a 4-1 vote, announced around 1:45 a.m. today, the city’s Fire Board of Appeals made two key rulings that favored the owners of the Corinthian Ballroom, the Fairfax Room and the building that houses the two event spaces and a ground floor retailer.

First, the board reversed a fire marshal’s citation that would have required co-owners Longley and co-owner Gary Peck to create a second exit to the street from the fourth-floor ballroom. Peck had told the board related construction costs would be prohibitive and that he and Longley would have to cease business.

The board also differed with a contention by city fire and building code officials that wedding receptions and similar events held in the Corinthian Ballroom or Fairfax Room constituted a “change of use” for the building, even though it had long hosted similar functions when owned by a Masons lodge.

The rulings came after grueling hours of testimony and argument that began around 10 a.m. Thursday at the Roanoke Municipal Building.

The board’s decision lifted an occupancy limit of 49 people set after a Feb. 20 inspection of the circa-1911 building by the fire marshal’s office.

But the resolution read by board member Mark Cathey, a Roanoke lawyer, also listed several recommendations from the Fire Board of Appeals that it believes will make the building safer, including the widening of a few doors, the installation of smoke alarms and other measures. Longley said related work could start as soon as the afternoon of March 30.

Roanoke Fire Chief David Hoback said he respected the board’s decision but still remains concerned about having but one exit from the building.

Longley said she hopes a wedding reception scheduled for the first week of April will proceed as planned.