GILROY
– City officials now have a green light to
”
red tag
”
more than two dozen Monterey Street buildings deemed unsafe in
an earthquake.
GILROY – City officials now have a green light to “red tag” more than two dozen Monterey Street buildings deemed unsafe in an earthquake.
City Council directed staff Monday night to meet with downtown property owners whose buildings have not been retrofitted to withstand one of California’s infamous temblors. The action comes roughly five months after an historic clock tower fell and killed two women during a 6.5 earthquake in Paso Robles.
“No one in the city wants to put anyone out of business, but we need to know if our downtown buildings are safe,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said.
Staff will take the next 30 days to get the word out to property owners of 27 different structures classified as “unreinforced masonry buildings.” Within the next 60 days, city officials hope to meet with the property owners to explain what steps they need to take to make their buildings safe.
However, staff will immediately begin meeting with owners of buildings formally classified as dangerous by an engineer.
“I think this sends a message that we don’t want to red tag a whole bunch of businesses tomorrow,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “We want to work with the businesses to ID the severity of the situation and to see if we can help.”
Red-tagging refers to the practice of banning entry into a building that is deemed unfit for occupancy.
Two of the three structures that have been deemed dangerous by an engineer are currently vacant buildings along Monterey. A third, however, houses a popular Chinese restaurant, the China Garden, at 7760 Monterey Street.
The city has $100,000 set aside in next year’s budget to help with the retrofitting process. Pinheiro said the city could give nearly $4,000 to each business to pay for engineering reports on the buildings.
However, the mayor said he would not support using the money to pay for actual retrofitting work on the buildings. Councilman Bob Dillon also said the city should hold back funding of retrofitting work.
“Owners need to be responsible for retrofitting those buildings,” Dillon said. “We all lived through a 7.1 earthquake and we all know it’s not earthquakes that kill you, it’s things falling on you that kill you.”
Baksa and Deputy Community Development Director John Greenhut presented 36 photos of all the unreinforced masonry buildings to council Monday night.
Six of the downtown buildings have been retrofitted and one building next to The Strand theater was demolished. Old City Hall and Station 55 are two of the more high-profile buildings that have been retrofitted.
Another 16 buildings have had engineering reports done on them, but those reports are outdated. Engineering reports could not be located for 11 buildings.
“We have no idea what condition these buildings are in,” Greenhut said.
Eric Leins covers city politics for The Dispatch. He can be reached at 842-6400 Ext. 275 or by e-mail at er***@************ch.com.
