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DBI updates commission on AB 83 tall-building bulletin, soft‑story survey and community safety element
Summary
Structural staff reported progress on a draft Tall Buildings administrative bulletin under SEA review, a volunteer survey mapping soft‑story wood‑frame buildings in a large portion of the city, and updates to the community safety element; the department will review SEA materials and bring proposals back in coming months.
Manager Ray Louie briefed the Building Inspection Commission on April 2 about several seismic initiatives. He summarized progress on AB 83, a draft Tall Buildings administrative bulletin developed in partnership with structural-engineering volunteers; said a SEA task group voted unanimously to approve the draft and the SEA board was meeting the following night; and described a likely June timeline to present a finalized proposal to the commission after code advisory review.
Louie also described a volunteer-driven soft‑story wood‑frame building survey conducted Feb. 24 by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and volunteer structural engineers; volunteers mapped roughly a third of the city that likely contains 60–70% of soft‑story buildings, and DBI staff will complete the remainder to produce an inventory to inform mitigation work.
On the community safety element, Louie said the Planning Department rewrote the section to reflect advances in seismic mitigation and risk assessment; the document addresses mitigation, response and recovery and is available on the city website. He cited USGS estimates of seismic risk used in the plan updates.
Commissioners discussed staging, stakeholder review and coordination with the fire marshal and code advisory committee. Louie said DBI will invite related departments when reviewing proposals for tall-building proposals and will post current drafts on the web once SEA finalizes its board action.
Separately, commissioners debated a proposed CAPS research study that had a budget estimate of roughly $800,000–$900,000. Director Hassan said he would review deliverables and consider pausing departmental funding until grant or federal reimbursement (for example, FEMA) could be secured.
