Ord 2024-017 Article 16 (Earthquake Hazard Reduction in Existing Soft-Story Residential Buildings)

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ORDINANCE NO. 2024-017 5 7-5-1610 FINDINGS AND INTENT. a) The City Council desires to lessen the risks to life and property of the residents of the City of San Leandro posed by a major earthquake along the Hayward Fault. b) Buildings with soft, weak or open front ground floor stories are recognized by engineers, and other seismic safety experts, as having potential for sustaining serious damage including collapse, in the event of strong earthquakes. c) The current nationally recognized model code for the retrofit of soft-story residential buildings is Appendix Chapter A4 of the 2022 California Existing Building Code (CEBC). d) The City of San Leandro is located within Design Category D & E, as defined in the 2022 CEBC. e) It is the City’s intent by this ordinance to adopt retrofit standards for soft-story buildings within the City of San Leandro that comply with, or are substantially equivalent to, the standards set forth in Appendix Chapter A4 of the CEBC. f) The City Council has determined to implement a seismic hazard identification and mitigation program to investigate and correct the potential seismic hazards of certain residential and commercial buildings in the time and manner specified in this Article. 7-5-1615 ADOPTION AND MODIFICATIONS OF CHAPTER A4 OF THE 2022 CEBC. Appendix Chapter A4 of the 2022 California Existing Building Code (CEBC) is hereby adopted by reference, except where this Article provides alternative language. For purposes of this Article, the standards in the CEBC shall be used for the analysis of seismic weakness and to formulate the elements of work required remedying any identified weaknesses. 7-5-1620 INVENTORY OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SOFT-STORY BUILDINGS. Soft-story buildings as defined by Section 7-5-1605, identified by a survey conducted by the City as containing a soft, weak, or open front ground floor shall be defined and/or designated as soft-story buildings and placed on the Inventory of Potentially Hazardous Soft-Story Buildings. The Inventory of Potentially Hazardous Soft-Story Buildings shall be maintained, and revised as necessary, by the Building Official. A copy shall be available for inspection in the office of the Building Official. 7-5-1625 NOTIFICATION OF OWNERS AND ADMINISTRATION. a) Contents of Notice and Order. When the Building Official determines that a building is a soft- story building within the scope of this Article, the Building Official shall issue a Notice and Order to the property owner as provided herein. The Notice and Order shall specify that the building has been determined by the Building Official to be within the scope of this Article, placed on the Inventory of Potentially Hazardous Soft-Story Buildings, and, therefore, is required to meet the seismic analysis and other provisions of this Article. The Notice and Order shall set forth the property owner's obligations under this Article, the time limits for compliance, and appeal rights.