Supervisor Melgar urges inventory, voluntary retrofit standards for older concrete buildings

The Building Inspection Commission on April 16 heard a presentation on Board of Supervisors file 250211, legislation sponsored by Supervisor Myrna Melgar (District 7) that would require screening of roughly 4,000 buildings and add voluntary seismic retrofit standards for certain concrete and rigid‑wall/flexible‑diaphragm buildings.

"When the next major earthquake hits, we must be certain that reinforced concrete buildings throughout San Francisco, regardless of age, live up to their promise of earthquake resistant safety," Supervisor Myrna Melgar said, linking the proposal to the city’s long history of seismic risk.

Laurel Matthews of the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning described the measure as twofold: create a more accurate inventory of possible concrete and tilt‑up buildings by requiring a licensed engineer screening checklist, and add voluntary retrofit standards in the building code so owners who choose to retrofit have clear guidance. "I asked here today to ask you to approve recommend approval of the legislation that supervisor Melgar proposed under file number 250211," Matthews said. She…