The Street Seen: Seismic Retrofit
Ocean Park
The City Council adopted a seismic retrofit ordinance in March 2017 to implement a Seismic Retrofit Program to proactively strengthen existing older buildings and to enhance the security and safety of their occupants. Nearly 2,000 commercial and multi-family residential buildings in the City were identified as potentially seismically vulnerable in need of possible structural improvement and are required to comply with the program. Due to their lower risk and lower occupancy, single-family home compliance is voluntary. Previously retrofit buildings are also generally exempt.
There are five broad categories of vulnerable structures that have similar issues (and fixes) and 203 addresseses in Ocean Park (out of 1,504 City wide) on the list.
wood-frame soft-story (186 OP / 1,318 City wide)
unreinforced masonry (7 OP / 36 City wide)
non-ductile concrete (5 OP / 49 City wide)
concrete tilt-up (1 OP / 27 City wide)
steel moment frame (4 OP / 74 City wide)
The great majority are wood frame, multi-family residential buildings with soft stories - typically at tuck under parking.
Buildings on the City’s list can found either on the searchable map or in the Open Data Tables.
The time frame to comply is based on many considerations including - the financial and technical ease of the retrofit, the number of occupants, and the number of buildings (so as not to overwhelm the demand for contractors). The retrofit program is a big under taking by the City and Covid-19 staff reductions may have slowed enforcement progress.
