By Craig Gartman
Have you wondered why the downtown area looks like it has been
somewhat abandoned? I did, so I started asking around as to why
some of the storefronts have been unoccupied for years. I spoke
with some of the prominent downtown developers. They explained that
they are in a quandary with the requirements placed on them by the
city for the buildings.
Have you wondered why the downtown area looks like it has been somewhat abandoned? I did, so I started asking around as to why some of the storefronts have been unoccupied for years. I spoke with some of the prominent downtown developers. They explained that they are in a quandary with the requirements placed on them by the city for the buildings.
The buildings, specifically speaking, are the URM (unreinforced masonry) buildings. These were built with brick and mortar and are considered seismically unsafe.
Apparently, when a tenant vacates one of these buildings, before a new tenant can occupy the building, the building owner is required to complete URM retrofit. This makes sense because you want to ensure the building is reinforced for the next big earthquake.
The problem lies in the requirements imposed by the building department in addition to the URM retrofit. There are American Disabilities Act compliance and building code updates that are also required by the city. These additional requirements drive up the cost of preparing the building for the next tenant to prohibitive amounts. The result … the building remains vacant.
The URM program was mandated by the City Council for the purpose of making the buildings safer. It was understood that it would take years to get this done, but the City Council wanted to make sure it was in progress before the next big quake hit. At what point will the members of our Council learn that the URM program was a good idea but executed in the wrong way and they should stop trying to force this failed program down the throats of the downtown building owners?
In the beginning, I thought supporting the URM program would help encourage building owners to upgrade their buildings and make them safer. But I have come to realize that this good idea just doesn’t work the way we had hoped it would work.
First, when I talked with the three prominent building owners downtown they said that they threw up their arms in disgust at what they were being asked to do by the city staff. What should have been a very simple fix turned into a major headache.
When they presented their plans to perform the URM work, they were told they also had to bring the buildings up to date to meet the latest building codes and ADA requirements. Suddenly a project that would have cost $50,000 became a $200,000 project.
And, after doing some more investigation, I found that the city is forcing this additional repair work which far exceeds the URM retrofit requirements on the owners instead of working with them.
First, the main objective is to get the URM retrofits done. Second, the money issue has to be addressed. The building owners need to have the money to do the repairs and it’s hard to have money to repair the buildings if you don’t have income from renting out the spaces, hence the quandary. Third, the city has to work with the owners to help them get the URM plans approved, inspect the work and stay out of their way.
The most perplexing question is … if the URM retrofits, ADA compliance, and updated city codes are SO important, why are URM buildings with pre-existing tenants allowed to continue occupying these seismically unsafe buildings with no ADA and updated city code compliance? Is the safety of those who currently live and work in URM buildings any less important than those that would be the new tenants?
If this is truly a “safety issue”, then why doesn’t the city condemn the buildings? Because they are not truly unsafe. We would like them to be safer, and that is what the retrofitting is all about.
These buildings survived the Loma Prieta quake in 1989 and that was a heck of a shaker.
One way to liven up the area and breathe life back into downtown is to allow the building owners to rent their storefronts and generate the revenue to in turn get the improvements completed. Allowing businesses to open downtown will increase traffic and bring in jobs.
Here is a simple solution. First, scrap the current plan and the fines which haven’t worked. Have a standard sign that is posted on the front door of each of the URM buildings informing people that this is a URM building. Then get the city staff out of the way, and have the building owners submit retrofit plans to the city. If they are drawn up by a professional engineer, no additional city approval is needed. Let the work begin. Have the inspectors inspect the work and confirm it is being done per the design. Sign off on the work when it is completed and remove the sign on the front door.
The ADA and updated city code compliance can be completed over time, just give the owners a reasonable deadline and don’t tie them to the URM work. All can be done with or without tenants.
If the council directs staff to take a more hands-off approach to the whole URM issue, more buildings would be retrofitted and more businesses would be moving into the downtown area.
Just something to think about …
Craig Gartman is a former city councilman who is now in business locally. His email address is Gi***********@***oo.com.
