Seismic Retrofit Ordinance – Things that Building Owners in LA Should Know

As per the latest reports, there are about 13,000 soft story apartment complexes in the City of Los Angeles, which need earthquake retrofitting. Each of these buildings is different from the other, and the approaches to safe guard these buildings as per the seismic ordinance Los Angeles will be different. This means that the cost, time taken, and the measures to reinforce the buildings, will be different for different buildings.

Soft-Story Structure

Soft story structure is a type of architecture that is used mainly in apartments. In this structure, the parking area will be situated on the ground floor and the residential area will be above it. As per the seismic ordinance Los Angeles, soft story buildings that were before 1978 should be retrofitted to ensure stability of the building at the event of an earthquake.

It is a fact that earthquakes was, and will be, a part of California life. The City of Los Angeles has been sending email messages to property owners regarding the mandatory retrofit program, so that they can be prepared for the worst. As per the seismic ordinance Los Angeles, the retrofit notices are sent to the largest apartment buildings first, and then to the smaller ones.

Owners of soft story buildings will get one-year time, after receiving the order, to submit plans for retrofit, or prove that their building does not need soft story retrofit. If the owner is planning to reinforce the building under the retrofit program, he/she should get permission to do the work within the stipulated time. All the work should be finished within seven years of receiving the order to retrofit the building.

It is good to educate yourself on the laws and the steps to be taken to make your building comply with the seismic ordinance 183893. You can contact our experts to get your building evaluated and inspected. We can help you draft a retrofit plan for your building and then submit the same for review and approval.

Posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2018.