Unlike Florida, California leaves the safety of tall buildings largely in the hands of the owners – Orange County Register

Despite the earth’s tendency to sag beneath it, California has about 20,000 buildings 14 stories or higher, according to international data.

Skyline photo along Spectrum Center Drive in Irvine in 2019 (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

They are office buildings and residential towers. They are in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Irvine, Oakland, San Jose, San Francisco, Glendale and Riverside.

Some of the oldest ones have towered over the landscape for 100 years, and have survived earthquakes, weather, and time. But what happens below?

In California, no government agency is required to investigate the bones of aging tall buildings for safety. Once a city or local county issues a certificate of occupancy — the final step in the building process, which means people can move in — the work of government is basically done. It is left to building owners and residents to ensure that the tallest towers are structurally sound as the years pass, which can lead to conflict. Residents have refrained from the huge private valuations—sometimes as high as $100,000 per unit—that were needed to support aging infrastructure.

Here, California’s reputation as a hyper-regulator rests on myth, not fact.

Florida’s two largest counties are stricter, requiring that tallest towers be checked at age 40, and then every 10 years thereafter. Of course, the re-examination requirements don’t guarantee safety: After years of warnings about cracks and leaks in her garage, the Champlain Towers southward collapsed into dust at night, killing about 140 people as they slept on June 24. The Homeowners Association has known there have been problems for years, but it can’t incite a consensus to do much about it.

As residents of California high-rises look out from floor-to-ceiling windows and taller workers return to the office, many are wondering: Would a Florida-style re-inspection system for old towers be wise in the Golden State?

“rare event”

Engineers note that California has some of the strictest building requirements in the state, thanks to its location above many earthquake fault lines. But there is always room for improvement.

Rescue workers search the rubble at the Champlain Towers South complex, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in Miami’s Surfside District. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

“Failures like the one in Miami are rare,” said Henry M. Kaufman, professor of civil and environmental engineering at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering.

Should we have inspections? Yes, we should have inspections. You may find one in a million cases in the United States – but that one in a million may save lives. It’s a balancing act, a trade off. There are thousands upon thousands of structures – to get around and inspect them all takes an army. Who will pay for it? “

A decade ago, Kaufman was called by the Homeowners Association to inspect an old high-rise in Westwood. It had similar problems to the Champlain South Towers: a swimming pool over a two-level garage, showing structural cracks.

It needed more than $10 million in repairs. Residents refused, but eventually agreed to an expensive private appraisal. He only wishes Champlain South had a similar outcome.

“When I first saw the pictures, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Oklahoma City. Domestic or international terrorism.

Irvine high riseفين

The nerve center for the growing high-rise movement in Orange County is Irvine, where more than a dozen 11- to 20-story buildings have sprung up like mushrooms over the years. Irvine’s oldest skyscrapers were built in the mid-1980s, according to emporis.com, a worldwide building information database—around the same time the Champlain South Towers were built. Irvine’s tallest buildings are preparing to file papers with the city documenting the 40-year inspections if they were located in Miami-Dade or Broward counties in Florida, rather than California.

Replacing the recently completed Gerald Desmond Bridge viewed from the west in August 2020 has changed the skyline of downtown Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Friesman, contributing photographer)

Jesse Cardoza, Irvine’s director of construction and safety, finds it surprising that there is no similar requirement here, given the strength of California building codes. But that doesn’t mean the officials here are in the dark as these buildings mature.

He said city inspectors visit tall buildings several times a year, and they monitor tenant improvement projects. This allows them to draw attention to buildings and identify glaring problems.

Fire departments also regularly check tall buildings for compliance with fire safety rules, and will alert city officials if structural problems are brought to their attention. But Champlain South suggests more could be done.

“The whole country looks there and says, ‘How can this happen?’ “A lot of the suggestions and modifications are being reviewed at the moment,” Cardoza said.

Who is working?

California building code is a work in progress. Currently, updates to its many rules governing electrical, mechanical, plumbing, building and other laws are being drafted for adoption, which occur every three years.

There is no state law or code that requires mandatory structural/engineering reviews after a certain period of time for tall buildings, and no proposals for one are on the table at the moment, said Jennifer Ida, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Public Services.

“The post-occupancy inspection program is generally not a requirement in the building code,” she said by email.

After a balcony collapse killed six people in Berkeley in 2017, the state legislature approved a new law requiring most multifamily buildings with outdoor stairs and porches to be inspected regularly.

The Riverside skyline as seen from Mount Rubido. (file image)

The responsibility of reviewing building plans, issuing building permits, and declaring buildings safe and ready for occupation is not the responsibility of the state—it is the task of the California city of more than 480 departments and 58 building and planning districts.

These cities and counties can decide to adopt stricter Florida-style re-inspection programs for older tall buildings if they choose.

“Enforcement lies with cities, even though California has a state-specific building code. Local municipalities can adopt amendments, said Thomas A. Sabol, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering, via email. Many do, but it should be at least as stringent as state requirements.”

“Other than buildings that are subject to mandatory seismic upgrades — for example, concrete non-slip buildings in Los Angeles, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica, or basement/soft-storied apartments in these cities — there is not much in the way of mandatory re-examination once certification has been issued. works.

“Based on my experience reviewing existing buildings, I have not seen many examples of significant or distress structural damage in the absence of an external cause (eg earthquake), but that does not mean that it does not exist. Most buildings that I believe require remedial attention are those which have seismic faults.

Some local officials are freaked out enough to start rolling the ball. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has proposed a plan to assess all unrecorded Los Angeles County high altitudes, which will be discussed at this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting.

Newport Beach homes with fashion island skyline in the background

Kaufman, of the University of Southern California, had been checking a video of the Champlain Towers collapse, and the condition of the garage beforehand. He suspects that there are well-documented issues with water leaks and the pool deck will eventually emerge as the culprits in its collapse. He also expects the tragedy to provoke vigorous debate and thorough scrutiny, potentially bringing about change.

“When there is an incident like this, we learn from it,” he said.

Writer Jeff Collins contributed to this report.

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