With each passing moment we edge a little closer to a
potentially devastating seismic event. It’s not a question of if or
when. It’s a question of being prepared when that
foundation-rattling subterranean shaker rolls through town.
With each passing moment we edge a little closer to a potentially devastating seismic event. It’s not a question of if or when. It’s a question of being prepared when that foundation-rattling subterranean shaker rolls through town.
Gilroy’s downtown is not prepared. While a few retrofitted structures in the downtown should withstand a Loma Prieta-strength quake intact – including Old City Hall and Porcella’s Music on Monterey Street and the old firehouse on Fifth St. – these and a handful of other retrofitted buildings are the exception, not the rule.
If a Loma Prieta-strength quake occurred today along the Sargent fault at the western edge of the valley or along the Calaveras fault in the eastern foothills, many older downtown buildings would suffer damage, perhaps damage beyond repair, perhaps damage involving loss of life. Gilroy city staff recently identified 27 unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs) deemed unsafe in the event an earthquake. These structures have engineering reports indicating their structural problems. City officials continue to compile information on additional buildings in the downtown that have outdated engineering reports or for which no engineering reports can be found.
That’s why we are encouraged by the clear retrofit mandate the city is sending to URM owners in the historic downtown. According to Community Development Director John Greenhut, city staff is reaching out to the owners of brick, cinder block or other masonry structures that were built without the safeguards required in modern construction and helping them understand the retrofitting process and the resources available to make the necessary repairs. While the city does not intend to drive anyone out of business, it has made it clear that the outreach effort has teeth. The implied threat of eventually red-tagging structures that don’t fall into compliance is clearly present. That is the necessary message behind the message.
To put even more bite into the retrofit message, the city should urge URM owners to post warning placards indicating their building may be unsafe in an earthquake. State Bill 2533, passed in 1991, actually requires businesses inside seismically unsafe structures to display this information, but since the law carries no penalties, few businesses comply. However, a recent amendment to the bill will require businesses to post a URM statement or suffer a penalty.
Even if the city can’t force business owners to display a URM warning, it can publish a map of URM locations on the City of Gilroy Web site. Public awareness of the URM issue is one more facet of a strategy that will expedite the retrofit process.
Some will claim that expecting owners of URM properties to pay for costly seismic retrofits and shaming them into displaying URM warnings are heavy-handed tactics. Some will complain that the signage and the cost of retrofitting will force them out of business. We are sympathetic. However, two people died in Paso Robles five months ago when a clock tower fell during a 6.5 earthquake. How many buildings would have collapsed in Gilroy’s downtown if that quake’s epicenter had originated 125 miles to the north? Do we want to find out?
We must make the downtown seismically safe. Property owners must come to the realization that seismic retrofitting is not an option, but a requirement. While retrofitting now will impact business temporarily, demolition in the aftermath of a major quake will impact businesses permanently.
Moreover, aggressively pursuing seismic retrofits of URMs plays directly into the revitalization mission for the downtown, which is another reason to keep the pressure on.
Who knows, the implied threat of red-tagging may be just the motivation needed to get some notoriously absentee landlords off the dime. It may encourage them to sell the property to a local entrepreneur who will retrofit or level and start over. In the end, while the “retrofit or red-tag” policy may cause some short-term hardship among business owners, it’s a policy that will make the downtown earthquake safe sooner and hasten downtown revitalization.
