Commission backs ordinance requiring maintenance of existing residential elevators

The Building Inspection Commission on Sept. 18 recommended approval of Board of Supervisors file 240807, a measure that would require R‑1 and R‑2 residential buildings with an existing passenger elevator to keep at least one elevator operational for residents, regardless of building height.

Supporters said the change closes a loophole between the fire code and the local building code that allowed owners to neglect elevators in shorter buildings. "If you have an existing elevator in a building regardless of height that is for passenger use, you must keep that maintained," said Lorenzo Rosas, legislative aide in a supervisor's office, describing a constituent who became mobility‑impaired when an elevator went out of service.

The ordinance reconciles an inconsistency staff said exists between the fire code requirement that passenger elevators be maintained and a local housing code provision that had required elevators only in buildings over 50 feet. Staff told commissioners an estimated 1,500 buildings could be affected, many of them older properties concentrated in the northern parts of the city; about half were said to lie in Supervisorial Districts 2 and 3.

Commissioners sought and received clarification that the requirement applies to elevators intended for resident ("passenger") use and not to equipment cordoned off for other functions. Staff and the sponsor also agreed to language protecting property owners who are making good‑faith efforts to repair elevators when parts must be manufactured or obtained.

Commissioner Newman moved to approve the ordinance; Commissioner Chavez seconded. The commission recorded a unanimous roll call vote in favor.

Next steps: the Commission's recommendation advances the ordinance to the Board of Supervisors as listed in file 240807. The legislation includes an amendment intended to avoid penalizing owners making documented repair efforts.