City may force modern earthquake-safety standards on century-old
buildings
Gilroy – Steve Ashford can afford $230,000 to fix his downtown storefront so it doesn’t crumble in an earthquake. But he can’t afford $500,000.
The heftier of the two estimates is the one from a city-hired engineer, and it’s the one Ashford will have to pay if the city insists on modernizing every aspect of his store as part of a crackdown on unreinforced masonry buildings in downtown Gilroy.
“The city’s not only saying they want the safety portion taken care of, but they also want you to upgrade the electrical, install a handicapped bathroom and all this other stuff that isn’t (related to unreinforced masonry),” said Ashford, who owns Ashford Heirlooms at 7547 Monterey St. “They want it all brought up to code.”
In its current form, a city plan to force modern earthquake-safety standards on 30 downtown buildings would not only require property owners to replace brick walls and brace ceilings: It would require them to bring buildings that are often a century old up to standards set in 1997.
That would spell tens of thousands of dollars beyond the $15,000 that Gary Walton had planned to spend. Bringing the office he owns at 7436 Monterey St. up to modern earthquake codes would require replacing a brick wall between his building and that of a neighbor.
Walton, an experienced developer and one of the visionaries behind downtown revitalization, agrees the time has come to force conversion of such buildings. But he said the city’s “one size fits all” approach simply doesn’t work.
He took issue, for instance, with the city’s three-year deadline for conversion. Under the proposed plan, building owners who fail to upgrade their buildings within that time would face monthly fines of $10,000 per month until the city has completed the legal process of seizing the building. To avoid such heavy-handed tactics, officials hope to convince owners to willingly convert their buildings by waiving tens of thousands of dollars in up-front fees normally levied for development. Owners who wait until the second year of the program to apply for a building permit will only get 50 percent of the fees waived, and those who wait for the third year will receive no breaks. The same standard will apply for loosened requirements on parking spaces – the longer building owners wait, the more parking they will have to provide or, alternatively, the more they will have to pay in fees to avoid providing spaces.
Walton welcomed the incentives but lobbied for a longer deadline.
“I felt that three years is a little short to try and get 30 some-odd buildings retrofitted,” said Walton, who prefers a five-year period. “Even if you started today it would take at least a year to get through the process. You have to find an architect, a contractor, and go through plan checks. You have weather problems, leases you might have to get out of if you have a tenant in there. There are a lot of issues … I agree that it’s time this should be done because it’s a hell of a safety risk. I’m just saying that it’s very optimistic that they think they’re going to get all this done in three years.”
With regard to fines, Walton said, “I think you’re better off working with property owners individually. Government has a tendency of one size fits all, but real life isn’t that way. I think we need to be pro-active and tailor this to each case.”
The city does have plans to smooth the way for building owners. In addition to offering fee waivers, officials will appoint an ombudsman to manage the conversion process and serve as a single point of contact for all owners.
And at least one official is rethinking the need to force property owners to bring an entire building up to code.
“It suddenly takes a project that is doable and within reason and makes it unreasonable,” Councilman Craig Gartman said. “I think we need to step back and remember what our objective is. Our objective is to take care of unreinforced masonry to make sure the buildings are safer during an earthquake.”
While council could bend on the code requirements, it appears unlikely they will push back the three-year deadline. Mayor Al Pinheiro is quick to remind owners that Monday night, when the city unveiled its three-year conversion program, was not the first time the URM issue has come up. He pointed out that city leaders began warning owners about the crackdown two years ago. Pinheiro and other city officials view URMs as both a public safety threat and a drag on efforts to breathe new life into downtown.
“I’ll be very honest. We are at a point in time that it’s been 25 years since this issue came about,” Pinheiro said. “There were studies in the late ’70s and (building owners) never did anything about it. I’m not ready to think about any extension. Three years is a fair amount of time. … The bottom line is that people need to step up and be part of the solution.”
Ashford admits his building poses a threat to public safety and he has proposed a fix. But he says the city needs to give a little ground as well.
“I offered to remove the (brick) and make it what the state is mandating me to do,” he said, referring to state seismic safety standards. “Then down the road, when I recoup some of my money, I can do all these other upgrades as well.”
City council plans to talk about the URM conversion program once again during informal policy talks July 14. Officials expect the three-year period to begin September.
