West Hollywood

The city of West Hollywood formally adopted a seismic retrofit program on April 17, 2017. The program is intended to reduce the risk of earthquake-related damage and ensure life safety in the city’s commercial and multifamily buildings. Ordinance 17-1011 establishes the mandatory provisions for strengthening non-ductile concrete structures. The ordinance also contains provisions for buildings constructed with pre-Northridge steel moment frames. The ordinance became effective on August 7, 2018.

Scope

West Hollywood’s mandatory non-ductile concrete ordinance will apply to existing buildings that have the following characteristics:

• Reinforced concrete construction
• Built under building code standards enacted before the 1979 Uniform Building Code with local amendments

The ordinance does not apply to the following structure types:

• Concrete structures with flexible diaphragms
• Single Story structures, unless the lateral system contains concrete moment frame elements
• Wood structures over concrete podium unless the podium contains a major deficiency specified in section 13.36.050.a of the ordinance
• Buildings with a steel lateral resisting system encased in concrete
• Residential common interest developments (as defined by West Hollywood Municipal Code Section 19.90.020)

The city of West Hollywood conducted a visual survey to identify specific buildings that fall within the scope of the City’s seismic retrofit ordinances. The list of properties subject to the West Hollywood Seismic Retrofit Ordinances is available to the public here. The list includes approximately 30 concrete buildings and 40 buildings that have been classified as ‘undetermined’ building types and may be added to the non-ductile concrete category following further investigation.