Oakland Municipal Code Art. IV Technical

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)

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)

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)