Gilroy
– More than three-fourths of Gilroy’s downtown buildings would
not be safe if a major earthquake hit.
After a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0
struck Tuesday along the San Andreas fault near Paso Robles, city
officials say they will continue working on a plan to address the
downtown problem this fall.
Gilroy – More than three-fourths of Gilroy’s downtown buildings would not be safe if a major earthquake hit.
After a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck Tuesday along the San Andreas fault near Paso Robles, city officials say they will continue working on a plan to address the downtown problem this fall.
In 1986 the state passed a law that required local governments to inventory unreinforced masonry buildings, establish loss reduction programs and report progress to the state.
The law also recommended – but did not require – that local governments establish retrofit standards, reduce how many people are in unsafe buildings and force local owners to get their buildings retrofitted.
Under Gilroy’s “voluntary strengthening” program, building owners are responsible for assessing the risks of their own buildings. Then they submit letters to the city – which must be available to the public – stating when they intend to retrofit their buildings.
City Administrator Jay Baksa said the city is planning to kick off an outreach program later this fall to discuss the issue with owners whose buildings do not have unreinforced masonry.
“That’s the first step,” he said. “We haven’t discussed requirements as of yet. There’s a lot of informing to do before we could require something like that.”
Baksa said the city is working to get a few thousand dollars in grants from Housing and Urban Development that will allow owners of unreinforced masonry buildings to get engineering reports done on their buildings.
“By doing that, they’re able to see where they’re at,” Baksa said. “The danger might be severe, it might be minor. You don’t know for certain until someone with the necessary expertise comes in to take a look.”
Baksa said the city’s goal is not to “red tag” a business, or ban entry into it, if it’s not retrofitted – unless the building poses an immediate and severe threat to public safety.
“We’d rather work with landowners to get to fix the problem or come up with other alternatives,” he said.
Retrofitting, an expensive endeavor, is often beyond what owners can afford.
Dave Porcella, owner of Porcella’s Music at 7357 Monterey St., said he had his 116-year-old retrofitted in 1993.
“After the (Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989), I started thinking maybe my building was unsafe,” Porcella said.
Porcella completed his retrofit in two phases. The first, in 1990, retrofitted the store’s west wall, and the second, three years later, completed the job. But Porcella said he was left with no income for the nine-month duration of the retrofit.
“I was told it would take three to four months,” he said. “They started in April and finished up in December.”
Porcella said he paid about $170,000 for the entire retrofit through a Federal Emergency Management Agency loan, which he said he’s still paying off. But knowing his employees, customers and building are safe is priceless, he said.
For business and property owners hesitant to retrofit their buildings because of the cost and time, Porcella has one piece of advice: Do it now.
“There’s certainly a lot that goes into it, but it’s well worth it,” he said. “And better to do it now, because it will only get more expensive, and the standards will keep getting stricter.”
Anthony Ojeda, an employee at Garlic City Coffee and Tea whose building is not retrofitted, said he didn’t think the coffee shop’s owner was planning to have the building retrofitted anytime soon.
“It’s expensive,” he said. “We’ve been doing okay in sales, but I don’t think we’d have the money for something like that.”
Shaking it up
Of the 44 buildings in downtown Gilroy:
20 have an out-of-date engineering report
14 do not have an engineering report
2 are considered dangerous
The following are safe retrofitted buildings:
• Happy Dog Pizza at 55 Fifth St.
• Porcella’s Music at 7357 Monterey St.
• Old City Hall Restaurant at 7400 Monterey St.
• Gilroy Antiques at 7445 and 7447 Monterey St.
• A vacant storefront at 7579 Monterey St.
• A vacant property at 7598 Monterey St. (building was torn down)
• A business at 7525 Monterey St.
