Coachella Municipal Code Ch. 15.32 Existing Building Code

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 1201, § 7, adopted June 28, 2023, amended Ch. 15.32 in its entirety to read as herein set out. Former Ch. 15.32, §§ 15.32.010, 15.32.020, pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 1147, § 4, adopted Jan. 22, 2020.

Except as provided in this chapter, the 2022 California Existing Building Code, including Appendices A-1, based on the 2021 International Existing Building Code, as adopted by the state of California, as published by the International Code Council (ICC), shall become the Existing Building Code of the City of Coachella for the purpose of regulating the repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition to and relocation of the Seismic Strengthening Provisions for Unreinforced Masonry Bearing Wall Buildings, in existing buildings in the city. The California Existing Building Code is on file for public examination in the office of the building official.

(Ord. No. 1201, § 7, 6-28-23)

The city of Coachella finds that the proposed amendments to the Existing Building Code are reasonable and necessary because of local climactic, geologic, and topographical conditions within the City of Coachella. This finding is supported and based upon the following express findings which address each of these conditions and present the local situation which make the proposed amendments necessary.

A. Climatic Conditions.

1. The City of Coachella located in Riverside County is located in Southern California and covers a vast and varied geographic area. The base climate in western Riverside County consists of semi-arid Mediterranean weather patterns. Eastern Riverside County is a desert area with Mohave Desert temperatures and weather patterns. Those two primary areas are divided by the San Bernardino Mountain Range. Both areas outside of the mountain terrain annually experience extended periods of high temperatures with little or no precipitation. Hot, dry winds, which may reach speeds of seventy (70) miles per hour or greater, are common to the area. Examples are: Santa Ana/Foehn winds, afternoon surface-heating generated winds, and prevailing desert winds.

These climatic conditions cause extreme drying of vegetation and common building materials. Frequent periods of drought and low humidity add to the fire danger. This predisposes the area to large destructive fires (conflagration) which necessitates rapid identification, locating and extinguishment of all fires in the smallest stage possible. In addition to directly damaging or destroying buildings, these fires are also prone to disrupt utility services throughout the county. Obstacles generated by a strong wind, such as fallen trees, street lights and utility poles, will greatly impact the response time to reach an incident scene. During these winds, the inability to use aerial type firefighting apparatus would further decrease our ability to stop fires in large buildings and place rescue personnel at increased risk of injury.

2. Although Riverside County and the City of Coachella occasionally experiences periods of significant drought, the county can also experience periods of substantial rainfall. Annual rainfall varying from three inches in Blythe to over thirty-three (33) inches in Pine Cove. When Riverside County does experience heavy rain, or rain over a period of days or weeks, many areas of the county are subject to flooding. Runoff from rain drains either naturally into rivers, washes, and creeks or into flood control facilities. Flash flooding is also a common problem, especially in the Coachella Valley and the easterly portions of the county. Flash flooding is typically associated with short duration, high intensity precipitation events often associated with summer thunderstorms. Such events can occur even during a drought.

3. Water demand in densely populated Southern California far exceeds the quantity supplied by natural precipitation; and although the population continues to grow, the already-taxed water supply does not. California is projected to increase in population by nearly ten million over the next quarter of a century with fifty (50) percent of that growth centered in Southern California. Due to storage capacities and consumption, and a limited amount of rainfall future water allocation is not fully dependable. This necessitates the need for additional and on-site fire protection features. It would also leave tall buildings vulnerable to uncontrolled fires due to a lack of available water and an inability to pump sufficient quantities of available water to floors in a fire.

4. These dry climatic conditions and winds contribute to the rapid spread of even small fires originating in high-density housing or vegetation. These fires spread very quickly and create a need for increased levels of fire protection. The added protection of fire sprinkler systems and other fire protection features such as identification and notification will supplement normal fire department response by providing immediate protection for the building occupants and by containing and controlling the fire spread to the area of origin. Fire sprinkler systems will also reduce the use of water for firefighting by as much as fifty (50) to seventy-five (75) percent.

B. Topographical Conditions.

1. Natural: The topographical conditions of Riverside County varies from three hundred (300) feet below sea-level, flat desert communities, to mountains over ten thousand (10,000) feet in Alpine-like areas of the San Bernardino Mountain Range. In between these areas, developable slopes of twenty-five (25) percent and greater generally occur throughout the foothills. Riverside County extends from Orange County to the state of Arizona and is mixed with congested urban areas, rural lands and wild lands. A large number of sensitive habitats for various animal species and vegetation consist within large open space areas between major urban centers that impact building and structure location, which impedes emergency access and response. This variety in regions contributes to an increased emergency response time, which necessitates cooperation between local agencies.

2. Traffic and circulation congestion is an artificially created, obstructive topographical condition, which is common throughout Riverside County.

3. These topographical conditions combine to create a situation, which places fire department response time to fire occurrences at risk, and makes it necessary to provide automatic on-site fire-extinguishing systems and other protection measures to protect occupants and property.

C. Geological Conditions. Located within Riverside County are several known active and potentially active earthquake faults, including the San Andreas, San Jacinto, and Elsinore Fault. In the event of an earthquake, the location of the epicenter as well as the time of day and season of the year would have a profound effect on the number of deaths and casualties, as well as property damage.

The major form of direct damage from most earthquakes is damage to construction. Bridges are particularly vulnerable to collapse, and dam failure may generate major downstream flooding. Buildings vary in susceptibility, dependent upon construction and the types of soils on which they are built. Earthquakes destroy power and telephone lines; gas, sewer, or water mains; which, in turn, may set off fires and/or hinder firefighting or rescue efforts. The hazard of earthquakes varies from place to place, dependent upon the regional and local geology. Ground shaking may occur in areas sixty-five (65) miles or more from the epicenter (the point on the ground surface above the focus). Ground shaking can change the mechanical properties of some fine grained, saturated soils, where upon they liquefy and act as a fluid (liquefaction).

1. Previous earthquakes in Southern California have been accompanied by disruption of traffic flow and fires. A severe seismic event has the potential to negatively impact any rescue or fire suppression activities because it is likely to create obstacles similar to those indicated under the high wind section above. With the probability of strong aftershocks there exists a need to provide increased protection for anyone on upper floors of buildings.

2. Road circulation features located throughout the county also make amendments reasonably necessary. Located through the county are major roadways, highways and flood control channels that create barriers and slow response times. Hills, slopes, street and storm drain design accompanies with occasional heavy rainfall, causes roadway flooding and landslides and at times may make an emergency access route impassable. There are areas in Riverside County that naturally have extended emergency response times that exceed the five-minute goal.

D. Administrative Conditions. Alternatively, the City of Coachella finds that the proposed amendments to the Existing Building Code are administrative in nature.

California Health and Safety Code Sections 17958.7 and 18941.5 require that the modification or change be expressly marked and identified as to which each finding refers. Therefore, the city council finds that the following table sets forth the 2022 California Existing Building Code sections that have been modified and the associated local climatic, geological, topographical, and/or administrative conditions described above supporting the modification.

(Ord. No. 1201, § 7, 6-28-23)

A. Section 202, Definitions, is hereby amended by adding thereto the following definition to read as follows:

Substantial Structural Damage. A condition where:

1. In any story, the vertical elements of the lateral-force-resisting system, have suffered damage such that the lateral load-carrying capacity of the structure in any direction has been reduced by more than 20 percent from its pre-damaged condition, or

2. The capacity of any vertical gravity load-carrying component, or any group of such components, that supports more than 30 percent of the total area of the structure's floor(s) and roof(s) has been reduced more than 20 percent from its pre-damaged condition, and the remaining capacity of such affected elements with respect to all dead and live loads is less than 75 percent of that required by the building code for new buildings of similar structure, purpose, and location.

(Ord. No. 1201, § 7, 6-28-23)