The California Apartment Association and a Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday backed a proposal to scour the city for “soft story” apartment buildings vulnerable to collapse during a major temblor.
The project would identify soft-story structures from roughly 29,000 apartment buildings erected prior to 1978. These types of buildings often have wooden frames and carports at ground level. Without proper reinforcement, they’re prone to significant damage during the intense shaking of an earthquake.
Finding soft story buildings is likely a precursor to mandatory retrofitting. San Francisco passed this type of legislation this year, and CAA helped ensure financial help for property owners facing steep retrofitting bills.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Beverly Kenworthy, CAA’s executive director in Los Angeles, said the association wants to work with L.A. to make retrofitting financially viable for property owners while reducing the risk of harm to residents during a quake.
“The safety of tenants is the utmost importance to our members,” Kenworthy said in this Los Angeles Times article.