Article III — ADMINISTRATIVE

Within one hundred twenty (120) days of the effective date of this Chapter, the Bureau of Building shall send a written notice to the owner of each known subject building informing the owner(s) of the requirement to comply with this Chapter.

Failure of the Bureau of Building to send or provide a written notice to unidentified owners of subject buildings or to owners of buildings not known to be subject buildings shall not relieve the owner of a subject building from the requirement to comply with this Chapter. Failure of an owner to receive a written notice shall not relieve the owner of a subject building from the requirement to comply with this Chapter.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

The fees for the review of various submittals intended to comply with this Chapter shall be specified in the master fee schedule.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

An owner of a building subject to this Chapter who fails to comply with any of this Chapter's requirements shall be subject to fines and penalties contained in Titles 1 and 15. The Building Official shall be authorized to impose the following additional penalties on any owner in violation of this Chapter.

A.

Failure to obtain a building permit or file a target story evaluation report on time. Each owner who fails to obtain a building permit or file a target story evaluation report in accordance with Section 15.27.050 and Section 15.27.070 shall be subject to the fines and penalties set forth in O.M.C. Chapter 1.08.

B.

Failure to Complete Permitted Construction. Each owner who fails to complete the permitted construction in accordance with Section 15.27.050 and Section 15.27.070 shall be subject to the fines and penalties set forth in O.M.C. Chapter 1.08.

C.

Noncompliance Actions. In addition to the fines authorized by subsections A. and B., the following shall apply in the event of any failure to comply with the requirements of this Chapter:

1.

The owner shall notify, in a manner prescribed by the Bureau of Building, all parties with financial interest in the property (such as mortgage lenders, lien holders, insurance bearers) and the tenants, current and prospective, that the building is potentially a seismically hazardous building and is in violation of this Chapter. The owner shall be required to send written notice (in English, Spanish, and Chinese) to all tenants and to inform prospective tenants in writing.

2.

The Bureau of Building may file a statement with the County Recorder office describing violations of this Chapter. Upon correction of any violation of this Chapter, the Bureau of Building will file a release of any order that may have been recorded for noncompliance with this Chapter.

3.

The Bureau of Building may require the owner to post one (1) or more signs on the building to designate it as potentially a seismically hazardous building. Location, form and content of the signs shall be at the discretion of the Bureau of Building. The owner shall be responsible for installing and maintaining the signs and immediately replacing them, at the owner's expense, as necessary. When the owner corrects all violations of this Chapter, the Bureau of Building shall authorize removal of the signs.

D.

Injunctive Relief. The City Attorney may file suit or take appropriate action to compel compliance of the provisions in this Chapter.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

15.27.130 - Retention of plans.

Notwithstanding any provision or exception in Title 15, including Exception 1 to Section 1.8.4.3.1 of the California Building Code and its successors, the Bureau of Building shall retain an official copy of any approved target story evaluation reports and retrofit design plans submitted to comply with this Chapter.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

The Bureau of Building shall maintain a listing of buildings subject to this Chapter and shall make that listing readily accessible to the public. The Bureau of Building shall convey the updated compliance status of each subject building and its parcel number to the County Clerk-Recorder once every six (6) months.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

ARTICLE IV. - TECHNICAL

15.27.150 - Definitions.

In addition to the definitions in Title 15 of this Code, the following definitions shall apply for purposes of this Chapter.

Dwelling Unit. A dwelling unit shall include any individual residential unit in a building with R-1 or R-2 occupancy, as well as any guest room, with or without a kitchen, in either a tourist or residential hotel or motel but shall not include a housekeeping room. Any unit occupied as a dwelling unit, whether approved or not approved for such use, shall be counted as a dwelling unit.

Owner. "Owner" shall have the same definition as O.M.C. Section 15.26.100, which means "any individual or group of individuals or firm or any other entity holding legal or equitable title to the real property."

Soft Story Building. A soft story building shall mean any building subject to this Chapter in accordance with Section 15.27.030, and shall mean only such a building.

Target Story. A target story shall mean either:

(1)

A basement story or underfloor area that extends above grade at any point; or

(2)

Any story above grade, where the wall configuration of such basement, underfloor area, or story is substantially more vulnerable to earthquake damage than the wall configuration of the story above; except that a story is not a target story if it is the topmost story or if the difference in vulnerability is primarily due to the story above being a penthouse, or an attic with a pitched roof.

Wood Frame Target Story. A wood frame target story means a target story in which a significant portion of lateral or torsional story strength or story stiffness is provided by wood frame walls.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

The evaluation criteria and target story engineering criteria, given in Section 15.27.170, have been selected as appropriate to the intent of this Chapter. The retrofit criteria, when properly applied, are expected to significantly reduce the collapse risk of subject buildings and to increase the likelihood that these buildings will be structurally safe to repair and occupy shortly after an earthquake.

The target story engineering criteria are intended to apply to existing wood frame target stories in order to improve building performance while limiting retrofit costs and impacts. It is not the intent of this Chapter to require other mitigation of structural or nonstructural deficiencies, seismic or non-seismic, that might lawfully exist but are beyond the purview of this Chapter. The target story engineering criteria might not achieve the same performance as design requirements for new buildings or any full-building retrofit objective for existing buildings.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

The following criteria shall be used for seismic building evaluation, including structural and non-structural elements, except that target story structural evaluation shall use the criteria given in Section 15.27.170.

A.

The "screening" provisions in the latest edition of Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings (ASCE/SEI 41), published by the American Society of Civil Engineers, with a performance objective of Structural Collapse Prevention and Nonstructural Life Safety with the BSE-1E hazard (Basic Safety Earthquake 1 for use with existing buildings). The Bureau of Building is authorized to determine the required scope of the building evaluation.

B.

If compliance with this Chapter will require retrofit of a target story, the building evaluation shall consider conditions expected in the post-retrofit building.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

15.27.170 - Target story engineering criteria.

Any of the following criteria may be used to demonstrate compliance with this Chapter. Regardless of the criteria applied, the strength of a retrofitted target story need not exceed that required to develop the strength of stories above.

A.

For retrofit design only, Appendix Chapter A4 of the latest edition of the California Existing Building Code, "Earthquake Risk Reduction in Wood-Frame Residential Buildings With Soft, Weak or Open Front Walls."

B.

For evaluation or retrofit design, the latest edition of Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings [ASCE/SEI 41], published by the American Society of Civil Engineers, with a performance objective of Structural Life Safety in the BSE-1E hazard (Basic Safety Earthquake 1 for use with existing buildings).

C.

Historic Buildings. Subject buildings qualified as historic are not exempt from this Chapter, but shall be permitted to use alternate building regulations set forth in the California Historical Building Code.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

15.27.180 - Technical bulletins and administrative regulations.

The City Administrator or designee is responsible for the administration of this Chapter, and is authorized to develop and require compliance with one (1) or more technical bulletins and/or administrative regulations containing interpretations, clarifications, forms, and commentary to facilitate implementation of the engineering criteria and other requirements set forth in this Chapter.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

Except as follows and as specified elsewhere in this Chapter, all provisions of Title 15 for existing buildings apply to buildings subject to this Chapter. Work on subject buildings that is neither required by this Chapter nor triggered by compliance with this Chapter shall be subject to applicable provisions of Title 15.

A.

Alteration Provisions. Prior to compliance with this Chapter, buildings subject to this Chapter shall be considered substandard buildings per California Health and Safety Code Section 17920.3(o). When considering the target story work required by this Chapter as an alteration, 2016 California Existing Building Code Section 403.4 and its successor provisions may be waived by the Building Official.

B.

Zoning Exceptions. Buildings subject to this Chapter are entitled to special zoning exceptions as described in Section 17.102.250 of the Oakland Planning Code.

C.

Rent Adjustment. Allowable adjustments of rents due to seismic retrofit work required by this Chapter shall be governed by relevant requirements in Chapter 8.22 as amended.

(Ord. No. 13516, § 2, 1-22-2019)

Chapter 15.28 - UNREINFORCED MASONRY BUILDINGS