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Supervisors press DBI, PG&E and engineers over gas lines encased in grade beams; DBI promises audits and policy clarifications
Summary
A public hearing on the soft-story mandatory retrofit program focused on allegations that gas service laterals were encased by concrete grade beams in some retrofits. DBI said sleeving or wrapping per code is acceptable; PG&E described its encroachment-remediation process. DBI committed to audits, photos in inspections, an information sheet, and a 90-day report to the committee.
San Francisco's Land Use & Transportation Committee held a lengthy hearing on May 17 to evaluate safety and quality-control concerns in the city's mandatory soft-story seismic retrofit program, with particular focus on gas lines that may have been encased in newly poured grade beams.
Chair Supervisor Myrna Melgar said the hearing was intended to evaluate whether construction and inspection practices under the retrofit program were safe and whether the public could have confidence in DBI's oversight. The session followed reporting and complaints filed with DBI and the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California.
DBI presentation: code, oversight, and the '7 layers'
Christine Gasparak, DBI assistant director, described how the retrofit program was designed to reduce collapse risk in older wood-frame buildings and noted that…
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