Los Angeles Municipal Code § 91.9503 Definitions

(Amended in Entirety by Ord. No. 183,893, Eff. 11/22/15.)

Section

• 91.9501 Purpose.

• 91.9502 Scope.

• 91.9503 Definitions.

• 91.9504 Compliance Requirements.

• 91.9505 Administration.

• 91.9506 Occupant and Tenant Advisory.

• 91.9507 Historical Buildings.

• 91.9508 Engineering Analysis.

• 91.9509 Information Required on Plans.

• 91.9510 Violation / Penalty.

• 91.9511 Severability.

The purpose of this division is to promote the public welfare and safety by reducing the risk of death or injury that may result from the effects of earthquakes on existing concrete buildings. In the Northridge Earthquake, many concrete buildings constructed prior to the 1976 Los Angeles City Building Code provisions performed poorly and collapsed, causing loss of human life, personal injury and property damage. Similar loss of life, injury and property damage occurred in the Great Hanshin Earthquake, Mexico City Earthquake, and Christchurch New Zealand Earthquake due to the outdated building codes in those communities. The poor performance of these older concrete buildings is typically due to deficiencies in the lateral force resisting system (beams, columns and joints) that render the building incapable of sustaining gravity loads when the building is subjected to earthquake-induced lateral displacements. This division creates minimum standards to mitigate hazards from these structural deficiencies. Adherence to these minimum standards will improve the performance of these buildings during earthquakes and reduce, but not necessarily prevent, the loss of life, injury or earthquake-related damage.

The provisions of this division shall apply to any existing concrete building built pursuant to a permit application for a new building that was submitted before January 13, 1976, or, if no permit can be located, the structure is determined by the Department to have been built under building code standards enacted before January 13, 1976. (Amended by Ord. No. 186,583, Eff. 4/30/20.)

EXCEPTIONS: This division shall not apply to detached single-family dwellings or detached duplexes. Moreover, notwithstanding any provision of this Code, compliance with this division shall not require existing electrical, plumbing, mechanical or fire-safety systems to be altered to comply with existing code unless they constitute a hazard to life or property.

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this division, shall be construed as defined in this section. Words and phrases not defined here shall be construed as defined in Division 2 of this Code.

CONCRETE BUILDING is a building having concrete floors and/or roofs, either with or without beams, supported by concrete walls and/or concrete columns, and/or concrete frames with or without masonry infills, or any combination thereof.

DUPLEX is a building containing only two single-family dwelling units.

DWELLING UNIT shall include any individual residential unit within either an R-1 or R-2 occupancy building, including a mixed-occupancy building when part of it is either an R-1 or R-2 occupancy. A dwelling unit shall include the area of a building that is occupied as a dwelling unit, whether the building is approved or unapproved for residential use.

QUALIFIED HISTORICAL BUILDING is any building designated or currently in the process of being designated as a "qualified historical building" as defined in Part 8, Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations.

MASONRY INFILL is the unreinforced or reinforced masonry wall construction within a reinforced concrete frame.

RETROFIT is an improvement of the lateral force-resisting system by alteration of existing structural elements or addition of new structural elements.

SINGLE-FAMILY DWELLING is any building with one dwelling unit which contains living facilities, including provisions for sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation, as required by this Code.

Qualified historical buildings shall comply with requirements of the California Historical Building Code established under Part 8, Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code to the contrary, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to maintain, use, or occupy any building within the scope of this division that fails to meet the minimum earthquake standards specified in this division after receiving an order described in LAMC Section 91.9505. (Amended by Ord. No. 185,587, Eff. 7/16/18.)

Any person who violates or causes or permits another person to violate this division is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subject to prosecution and/or administrative enforcement under the Los Angeles Municipal Code. For purposes of this paragraph, "any person" includes an owner, lessor, sublessor, manager or person in control of a building subject to this division. This term shall not include any person who is merely a tenant or other individual occupying any dwelling unit, efficiency dwelling unit, guest room or suite in a building. The legal owner of a building is that person, firm, corporation, partnership or other entity whose name or title appears on the record with the Office of the County Recorder, as well as all successors or assignees of these persons.

EXCEPTION: This section shall not apply to any building on which work is proceeding in compliance with the time limits set forth in this division, or in compliance with any extensions of time granted by the Department or the Board; or any action, order or determination made by the Department or the Board in the implementation of this division.

If any subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this article is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction or by reason of any preemptive legislation, such decision or legislation shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have adopted this section, and each and every subsection, sentence, clause and phrase thereof not declared invalid or unconstitutional, without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.