[Added 7-17-2023 by Ord.
No. 2023-04]
a. Supplemental definitions. In addition to or in place of definitions
given elsewhere in this Code, the following definitions shall apply
for purposes of this section.
DWELLING UNIT
A single unit providing complete, independent living facilities
for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living,
sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation; or any individual residential
unit in a building with R-1 or R-2 occupancy, including short-term
rental units; or any guestroom, with or without a kitchen, in either
a tourist or residential hotel or motel. Any unit occupied as a dwelling
unit, whether approved or not approved for such use, shall be counted
as a dwelling unit.
OWNER
The owner of record as shown on the last equalized assessment
roll of the county. For purposes of providing notice to an owner of
any action or proceeding under this section, the term owner includes
the actual owner of record, or part owner, or such owner's agent,
employee or other legal representative.
TARGET STORY
Either (1) a basement story or underfloor area that extends
above grade at any point, or (2) any story above grade, where the
wall configuration of such basement, underfloor area, or story is
substantially more vulnerable to earthquake damage than the wall configuration
of the story above; except that a story is not a target story if it
is the topmost story or if the difference in vulnerability is primarily
due to the story above being a penthouse or an attic with a pitched
roof.
WOOD FRAME TARGET STORY
A target story in which a significant portion of lateral
or torsional story strength or story stiffness is provided by wood
frame walls.
[Added 7-17-2023 by Ord.
No. 2023-04]
a. Title. Section 12-15 shall be known as "Mandatory Seismic Retrofit
of Certain Residential Buildings," may be cited as such, and will
be referred to herein as "this section."
b. Intent. This section is intended to promote public safety and welfare
through a program of mandatory seismic retrofit of certain residential
buildings vulnerable to earthquake damage and collapse. The program
is intended to do some or all of the following: reduce earthquake-related
deaths and injuries, improve the durability of the existing housing
stock, facilitate post-earthquake emergency response, improve community
stability, minimize displacement during retrofits and after an earthquake,
and reduce the economic impacts of a damaging earthquake.
c. Subject Buildings. This section shall apply to buildings constructed
or permitted for construction before January 1, 1981 or designed based
on an adopted version of the 1976 or earlier edition of the Uniform
Building Code, that contain three or more dwelling units, and have
a wood frame target story. This section refers to any such building
as a subject building.
d. Notification. Within ninety (90) days of the effective date of this
section, the Building Official shall send a written notice to the
owner of each known subject building informing the owner of the requirement
to comply with this section. Failure of the Building Official to send
or provide a written notice to unidentified owners of subject buildings
or to owners of buildings not known to be subject buildings shall
not relieve the owner of a subject building from the requirement to
comply with this section. Failure of an owner to receive a written
notice shall not relieve the owner of a subject building from the
requirement to comply with this section.
e. Exemption or extension. The owner of a subject building may apply
for an exemption from the requirements of this section or for the
extension of one or more deadlines. Exemption or extension may be
granted for the following conditions applies:
1. A significant financial hardship related to the cost of the required
work that will make it infeasible to complete construction in the
required time.
2. An extension would prevent or minimize the displacement of a tenant.
3. A temporary, extreme shortage of, or price increase for, construction
materials or labor.
To request an exemption or extension, the owner shall submit
an application to the Building Official with supporting documentation.
The burden is on the building owner to show that at least one of the
listed conditions applies. The Building Official shall have discretion
to grant or deny an exemption or extension. The Building Official
may also refer the application to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
If the application is referred to the Planning and Zoning Commission,
the Building Official may establish procedures and application requirements.
The Commission shall review the information supplied by the owner
and shall make a recommendation to the Building Official.
f. Design Professionals. Unless specifically noted, all work intended
to comply with this section shall be performed by appropriately licensed
individuals, and all documents submitted for compliance shall be sealed
by a California-licensed architect or civil engineer.
g. Submittals. In addition to submittals required by other provisions
of this Code, the Building Official is authorized to develop, distribute,
and require the use of certain forms, templates, and other tools as
needed to facilitate compliance, review, approval, and records maintenance
contemplated by this section. The Building Official is authorized
to require separate submittals and permit applications for work required
for compliance with this section and for voluntary work to be performed
simultaneously.
h. Technical bulletins and administrative regulations. The Building
Official is responsible for the administration of this section and
is authorized to develop and require compliance with one or more technical
bulletins and/or administrative regulations containing interpretations,
clarifications, and commentary to facilitate implementation of the
engineering criteria and other requirements set forth in this section.
i. Retention of plans. The Building Official shall retain an official
copy of any approved target story evaluation reports and retrofit
design plans submitted to comply with this section.
j. Public record keeping. The Building Official shall maintain a list
of subject buildings and shall make the list readily accessible to
the public. The Building Official shall convey the list with a summary
of the compliance status of each subject building and its parcel number
to the County Clerk-Recorder once every six (6) months.
k. Conformance Period. No subject building for which permitted retrofit
work is completed in compliance with this section shall be required
by the City to undergo additional seismic retrofit of its seismic
force-resisting system within a period of fifteen (15) years after
the effective date of this section, except that any provisions in
this Code related to addition, alteration, repair, or change of occupancy
shall still apply. Any such additional seismic retrofit requirements
shall apply at the end of the conformance period, with schedule adjustments
to be determined by the Building Official.
l. Eviction Protection. All provisions of California
Civil Code section
1946.2 shall apply to each subject building that is required to undergo
seismic retrofitting under this section. However, the following additional
protections shall apply as well:
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of California
Civil Code Section 1946.2,
and as permitted by California
Civil Code Section 1946.2(g), the need
to vacate any unit of a subject building in order to comply with this
section shall not be considered a just cause for eviction of a tenant.
Moreover, if a tenant is required to temporarily vacate in order to
comply with this section, the building owner shall either provide
temporary housing to the tenant of comparable size and quality or
reimburse the tenant a portion of their previously paid rent in an
amount equal to the rent for the number of days that the tenant is
required to vacate.
[Added 7-17-2023 by Ord.
No. 2023-04]
a. Scope of work for each subject building. The owner of each subject building shall, in accordance with the schedule given in Subsection
12-15.3c, complete the following compliance scope.
1. Complete the screening. The owner shall submit a screening document following procedures to be prescribed by the Building Official. Where required, the screening document shall be sealed by a California-licensed architect or civil engineer. The document shall either show that the building is not a subject building per Subsection
12-15.2c or shall confirm that the building is a subject building assigned to a certain compliance tier.
2. Complete the structural retrofit. The owner shall:
(a)
Obtain a building permit to retrofit the subject building in compliance with the criteria given in Subsection
12-15.4; and
(b)
Complete or cause to be completed all permitted construction,
and obtain a certificate of completion.
Alternatively, the owner may submit to the Building Official a seismic evaluation report demonstrating compliance of each wood frame target story with the criteria given in Subsection
12-15.4.
3. Submit affidavits of compliance. The owner shall submit one or more
affidavits prescribed by the Building Official confirming compliance
with the required scope and with other administrative regulations.
b. Compliance tiers. Each subject building shall be assigned to a compliance
tier as follows.
1. Tier 1. Subject buildings with five (5) or more dwelling units shall
be assigned to Tier 1, unless eligible for Tier 3.
2. Tier 2. Subject buildings with three (3) or four (4) dwelling units
shall be assigned to Tier 2, unless eligible for Tier 4.
3. Tier 3. Subject buildings with five (5) or more dwelling units, with
at least one legally permitted dwelling unit or business, mercantile,
or assembly occupancy in a wood frame target story, shall be assigned
to Tier 3.
4. Tier 4. Subject buildings with three (3) or four (4) dwelling units,
with at least one legally permitted dwelling unit or business, mercantile,
or assembly occupancy in a wood frame target story, shall be assigned
to Tier 4.
c. Schedule. The owner of a subject building shall comply with each of this section's requirements in accordance with the deadlines given in Table 12-15.3c unless extended in accordance with Subsection
12-15.2e. Failure to fully comply with any deadline or to receive approval of submitted materials shall not alter other applicable deadlines. In no case shall transfer of title cause any deadline to be extended.
TABLE 12-15.3c. Compliance deadlines in years after the effective
date of this section
|
---|
Compliance Tier
|
1. Screening
|
2.1. Retrofit Permit
|
2.2. Retrofit Construction
|
3. Affidavits
|
---|
Tier 1
|
1 year
|
2 years
|
3 years
|
3 years
|
Tier 2
|
1 year
|
3 years
|
4 years
|
4 years
|
Tier 3
|
1 year
|
4 years
|
5 years
|
5 years
|
Tier 4
|
1 year
|
5 years
|
6 years
|
6 years
|
[Added 7-17-2023 by Ord.
No. 2023-04]
a. Engineering intent. The structural criteria provided in this section
have been selected as appropriate to the intent of this section. The
structural retrofit criteria are expected to significantly reduce
the collapse risk of subject buildings and to increase the likelihood
that a subject building will be structurally safe to repair and occupy
shortly after an earthquake. The structural criteria are intended
to apply to existing wood frame target stories in order to improve
building performance while limiting retrofit costs and impacts. It
is not the intent of this section to require mitigation of all structural
deficiencies, seismic or non-seismic, that might exist within or adjacent
to the building. The structural criteria might not achieve the same
performance as design requirements for new buildings or any full-building
retrofit objective for existing buildings.
b. Structural seismic evaluation. Where performed, seismic evaluation
of each wood frame target story shall comply with the latest edition
of Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings [ASCE/SEI
41] with a performance objective of Structural Life Safety with the
BSE-1E hazard or Structural Collapse Prevention with the BSE-2E hazard,
as interpreted by the Building Official.
c. Structural seismic retrofit. Seismic retrofit of each wood frame
target story shall comply with one of the following criteria.
1. Chapter A4 of the latest edition of the California Existing Building
Code, as interpreted by the Building Official.
2. The latest edition of Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing
Buildings [ASCE/SEI 41] with a performance objective of Structural
Life Safety with the BSE-1E hazard or Structural Collapse Prevention
with the BSE-2E hazard, as interpreted by the Building Official.
3. For subject buildings qualified as historic, alternate building regulations
of the 2022 California Historical Building Code.
[Added 7-17-2023 by Ord.
No. 2023-04]
a. Approval. Except for unsafe conditions, work triggered by the required
scope of work, or as specifically noted in this section, the Building
Official shall not withhold approval of submitted materials for reasons
unrelated to the required scope and the engineering criteria.
b. Green Building Measures. Work required by this section is exempt
from compliance with Green Building Measures otherwise required by
City of Albany Resolution 2022-135. This exemption applies only to
work expressly required for compliance with this section.
c. Alteration provisions. Prior to compliance with this section, each
subject building shall be considered a substandard building per California
Health and Safety Code Section 17920.3(o). When considering the work
required by this section as an alteration, the Building Official is
authorized to waive any of 2022 California Existing Building Code
Sections 503.4 through 503.12 and their successor provisions, as adopted
and amended by the City of Albany.
d. Existing building requirements. Unless specified otherwise, work
on subject buildings that is neither required by this section nor
triggered by compliance with this section shall comply with all applicable
provisions of this Code.