City shall establish and promote a seismic retrofit program to encourage property owners to upgrade buildings, especially masonry buildings, soft-story buildings (i.e., buildings designed with minimal bracing on the first floor), and critical facilities (i.e. hospitals, schools, and long-term care facilities).
Tilt-ups and unreinforced masonry buildings have been retrofitted. There will be a Council work session in the spring to gain input on the best approach for residential soft story buildings. In March of 2019 Council adopted an ordinance to establish a Soft Story Registry for residential buildings of 3 or more units by means of a formal screening process. However, since program implementation this screening process has been slowed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Due to impacts of the pandemic and ensuing SIP orders, additional time has been given to complete this process. To date, 107 out of 475 properties have been screened and program completion has been pushed back to May of 2022.