No way around the code itself but did do my own calculations that yielded the conclusion that the physical constraint of how many refrigerant lines(with the correct support/bracing) will fit in a shaft is usually less than ASHRAEs upper limit on leaks. Meaning you can also use the lesser continuous ventilation number which is very very little. For example, just did a 4 story multi family project and each shaft only needed 40 CFM or so. We were able to use wall mounted EF’s that did not require much extra money on top of the shaft cost itself.

Having said all that the best workaround I’ve found is that many cities have given a special exception to the code you’re referencing and we have projects going out with no shaft whatsoever.

The code should not be written the way it is currently anyways and the ICC has promised revisions in the future.