On Monday, the West Hollywood City Council unanimously approved a motion calling for condo owners to be exempted from a forthcoming seismic retrofit program, as Wehoville reports.
An ordinance proposed by city staff would require many of the city’s concrete buildings and all steel-frame structures constructed prior to the 1994 Northridge earthquake to be inspected for potential earthquake risks. Inspectors could then order property owners to bring the structures up to current safety standards.
But Wehoville reports that condo owners at the council meeting argued against the ordinance, saying the building updates should be optional.
A memo from the city’s Community Development Department notes that the seismic upgrades could be costly to condo owners in particular, and multiple residents of the exclusive Sierra Towers building told the council that (by their estimate) such retrofits could cost up to $1 million per unit.
Sierra Towers resident Joy Germont wrote to the council that “the cost of the retrofit would be so enormous that it would cause many of us to have to sell at a great loss.” She pointed to the fact that the building sustained no damage during the Northridge quake as evidence that the repairs might not be necessary.
Seismologists generally agree that Southern California is due for a major earthquake that could cause structurally weak buildings to collapse—especially those built with non-ductile concrete or stiff steel frames.
The council sided with the condo owners, but did not dispatch with the retrofit program altogether. As Wehoville reports, the rewritten ordinance will still apply to owners of apartment buildings found to be in need of retrofits.
Watch How an 8.0 Earthquake on the San Andreas Fault Would Rock LA [Curbed LA]
The Southern San Andreas Fault Is a Ticking Earthquake Time Bomb [Curbed LA]
WeHo City Council Gives Condo Owners a Pass on Earthquake Safety [Wehoville]
Comments
Apartment owners are not being let off the hook but these condo owners are? The city is making money on destroying the Sunset Strip with hotels…maybe take some of the money and help this condo out. Watch in the next few years a hotel is going to buy this property. BTW, wasn’t this condo known to have a bug and rodent problem a few years back?
By starlyn on 06.22.17 2:52pm
If the problem is serious enough and the city was sufficiently concerned over safety, tenants would have to vacate during repairs. The impact on resale value (letting things slide) is one factor; tenants having to reside elsewhere during repairs is quite another, it seems.
Questions: is the building constructed with steel framing or with reinforced concrete? And HOW is "stiff steel framing" a problem in a serious earthquake? This building dates to the 1960s.
By John Crandell on 06.22.17 3:41pm
The city seems to have the money to spend $400,000.00 to relocate people from a downtown building due to safety..why not help this building to. Maybe because they will make more money on the empty building downtown than a building on the westside.
By starlyn on 06.23.17 10:59am
The $400,000 is the City of Los Angeles. This article is about the City of West Hollywood. Two different cities that don’t share a budget.
By I Like Buildings on 06.23.17 1:36pm
So pressed with an order to perform seismic retrofits, an apartment building owner can Ellis Act his building, turn them into condos, decline the retrofits, and then sell them at a profit.
Sounds Great…..
By RXBXUXNX on 06.22.17 4:00pm
A lot of buildings in Hhollwyood have to be retrofited because the supports are not solid/earthquake proof.. Has anyone seen the new apt/whole foods being build in Burbank there seems to be like 2 stories in front with just a small amount of concrete legs holding up the entire top of the building to be built still.. Does not look safe if a big one hits…..
By beachwooddude on 06.23.17 1:40pm