Title
Second Reading to Adopt an Ordinance Amending San Leandro Municipal Code Title 7 (Maps, Buildings, and Subdivisions) by Adding Article 16 (Earthquake Hazard Reduction in Existing Soft-Story Residential Buildings) to Chapter 7-5 (Building Code)
Staffreport
COUNCIL PRIORITY
• Housing and Homelessness
• Sustainability and Resiliency
SUMMARY
The attached Ordinance was introduced on December, 2 2024, by a 6-0-1 (Councilmember Bowen absent) vote and is presented for a second reading. The Ordinance would address the following:
• Covers or makes subject to this Ordinance buildings with five (5) or more housing units that were permitted for construction before January 1,1985. Seismic related building code standards improved after 1985.
• Establishes an Inventory of Potentially Hazardous Soft-Story Buildings. As noted above, the City established this inventory in 2007 for 368 primarily residential buildings, and it is still relevant today.
• Adopts the Current Nationally Recognized Model Code for Soft-Story Retrofit. Chapter A4 of the 2022 California Existing Building Code, entitled “Earthquake Risk Reduction in Existing Wood-Frame Residential Buildings with Soft, Weak, or Open-Front Walls Is the current model code for soft-story retrofit.
• Requires Owners of Potentially Hazardous Soft-Story Buildings to Perform an Analysis of Structural Seismic Adequacy. Property owners of potentially hazardous soft-story buildings will be required, within 18 months, to submit a detailed seismic engineering evaluation report prepared by a qualified California licensed structural or civil engineer that: 1) analyzes the structural ability of the building to resist the seismic effects of earthquakes and the extent to which the building meets the standards for structural seismic adequacy; 2) identifies any hazardous exterior design elements; and 3) describes the elements of work needed to remedy the identified weaknesses.
• Requires Owners of Potentially Hazardous Soft-Story Buildings to Install Earthquake-Actuated Gas Shut Off Valves. Within 60 days, the property owner must install an earthquake-actuated gas shut off valve.
• Requires Owners of Potentially Hazardous Soft-Story Buildings to Notify Building Tenants in Writing and by Placing a Warning Sign in the Building. Within 18 months the property owner must notify each tenant in writing and post a warning sign in the building lobby (or visible common area) clearly warning that the building may not be safe to be inside or near in a major earthquake.
• Establishes Fees and Financial Incentives
• Establishes Appeal Process
• Allows Removal of Buildings from the Inventory under certain circumstances
RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends that the City Council hold the second reading and adopt Ordinance No. 2024-017 amending the Municipal Code as shown in Attachment A.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Ordinance
PREPARED BY: Michael Jeffery, Chief Building Official, Building & Safety Division, Community Development Department