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 17-1004 establishes the mandatory provisions for strengthening existing wood-frame buildings with soft, weak, or open-front walls. The ordinance also contains provisions for cripple walls and sill plate anchorage in existing wood-frame buildings. The ordinance became effective on April 1, 2018.

Scope

West Hollywood’s mandatory wood-frame soft-story ordinance will apply to existing buildings that have the following characteristics:

• Wood-frame construction
• Permit for construction was applied for prior to January 1, 1978 
• Ground floor or basement contains parking or similar open floor space causing soft, weak, or open lines, or the majority of the ground floor or basement contains an open floor space, and there exists one or more stories above

The city of West Hollywood conducted a seismic retrofit survey which indicated that there are more than 700 buildings in the City of West Hollywood that fall within the scope of the soft-story ordinance. The list of properties subject to the West Hollywood Seismic Retrofit Ordinances is available to the public here.