The City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (DBS) has released its list of wood frame soft-story buildings that may be required to undergo mandatory retrofitting. The list can be obtained by request to DBS, and the LA Times has provided a searchable version of the list here. The publication of the list follows on the heels of the Los Angeles City Council’s enactment of an ordinance requiring mandatory earthquake retrofitting for non-ductile concrete buildings and wood frame soft-first-story buildings in October of 2015.
Continue Reading UPDATE – City of Los Angeles Releases List of 13,500 Soft First Story Buildings Targeted for Earthquake Retrofitting
Los Angeles City Council Approves Major Earthquake Retrofitting Ordinance
On October 9th, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 to approve an ordinance requiring mandatory earthquake retrofitting for thousands of buildings in Los Angeles. The ordinance comes nearly a year after the publication of “Resilience by Design,” a report prepared by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Dr. Lucy Jones aimed at improving Los Angeles’s resiliency in the event of a major earthquake.
Continue Reading Los Angeles City Council Approves Major Earthquake Retrofitting Ordinance
Abuse of Discretion Not Shown By Court’s Failure To “Show Its Arithmetic” in Significantly Reducing Claimed Attorney Fees in CEQA Litigation
In Save Our Uniquely Rural Community Environment v. County of San Bernardino, __ Cal.App.4th ___, 2015 WL 1259781 (4th Dist., Div. 2, 2015) (SOURCE) , the Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision to significantly reduce plaintiff Save Our Rural Community Environment’s (SOURCE) claim for attorney fees[1] from $231,098 to $19,176. The Fourth District found that the court’s failure to provide an explicit analysis of its decision was not enough to indicate an abuse of discretion by the trial court. The court determined reversal of the attorney fees award would require that the record contain some indication that the trial court had considered improper factors, or some evidence that the award had been snatched from “thin air.”
Continue Reading Abuse of Discretion Not Shown By Court’s Failure To “Show Its Arithmetic” in Significantly Reducing Claimed Attorney Fees in CEQA Litigation
LA Mayor Proposes Mandatory Earthquake Retrofitting for Commercial and Residential Buildings
Capping a year-long partnership between the City of Los Angeles and Dr. Lucy Jones, a well-known seismologist with the United States Geological Survey, Mayor Eric Garcetti released “Resilience by Design” last week, a plan that includes an ambitious set of proposed seismic regulations. The plan proposes a series of ordinances to be reviewed by the City Council in the coming months, requiring, among other things, mandatory seismic retrofitting of soft-first-story buildings within five years and non-ductile concrete buildings within thirty years. These buildings have been identified in the plan as the buildings most at risk of collapse or structural failure in a large earthquake. In the past, the inability to identify funding for large scale retrofitting has scuppered any efforts address the danger. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the proposal is short on details about assistance to building owners for the costs of retrofitting. Below is a brief summary of what you need to know.
Continue Reading LA Mayor Proposes Mandatory Earthquake Retrofitting for Commercial and Residential Buildings
UPDATE: Comment Period for OPR Rethink of CEQA Guidelines on Transportation Impacts Extended Until November 21, 2014
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has extended the comment period for its draft of changes to the way that transportation impacts are analyzed under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The new deadline for submission of comments is November 21, 2014. OPR is proposing significant changes in the way transportation impacts should be evaluated under CEQA.
Continue Reading UPDATE: Comment Period for OPR Rethink of CEQA Guidelines on Transportation Impacts Extended Until November 21, 2014
Innovative Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan Seeks to Revitalize Neglected Los Angeles Neighborhood
After years of work and input from local community groups, environmentalists, affordable housing advocates, transportation advocates, and the business community, the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan (the “CASP”) cleared its final hurdle on June 28, 2013 when the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve it. The CASP aims to revitalize a more than 650 acre stretch of mostly industrial land along the Los Angeles River. The CASP includes several innovative strategies that aim to transform an area zoned and built according to development and land use patterns left over from the 1940’s. The goal is a mixed-use neighborhood that concentrates higher densities around transit, preserves and develops affordable housing and fosters economic growth and new technology, while providing sorely needed certainty to developers and investors interested in investing in the CASP area.
Continue Reading Innovative Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan Seeks to Revitalize Neglected Los Angeles Neighborhood