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CA:F:\atty\muni\laws\mary\timelim1.ord
City council Meeting 1-25-94
Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 1 722
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
ESTABLISHING TIME LIMITS TO ASSESS
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGED STRUCTURES AND
TO RESTORE VITAL BUILDING FUNCTIONS
ON AN INTERIM BASIS AND DECLARING
THE PRESENCE OF AN EMERGENCY
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES ORDAIN AS
FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findinqs and Purpose. The City Council finds
and declares:
(a) Numerous buildings and other structures in the
City of Santa Monica experienced substantial damage due to the
January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake and its aftershocks.
(b) Numerous commercial and residential structures
have been posted by City building inspectors with a no entry or
limited entry notice, as being unsafe for entry or safe for
limited entry only, and requiring additional assessment of the
structure's condition. As a result, numerous commercial and
residential tenants have been displaced. In addition, other
commercial and residential tenants occupying damaged structures
to which access has not been limited, have been substantially
harmed by the temporary loss of vital building systems.
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(c) There is a need to promptly assess the safety and
habitability of such structures, so that both owners and tenants
may make informed decisions concerning the occupancy of said
structures. It is therefore necessary to establish procedures
which will facilitate such prompt action, and reduce, to the
Extent feasible, the immediate threat to the public health,
safety, and welfare created by such structures and the
uncertainty and harm to displaced tenants and tenants occupying
damaged structures.
(d) For the reasons set forth above, protection of the
public health, safety and welfare requires the immediate
establishment of procedures to ensure the timely completion of
emergency structural assessment, and repair of vital building
systems, as set forth below.
SECTION 2. Assessment of Red-Tagged and Yellow-Taqqed
structures. and structures Suspected of containinqstructural
Damage.
(a) within thirty (30) days from the mailing of notice
pursuant to Section 5 of this Ordinance, the owner of any
residential or commercial structure located in the City of Santa
Monica which has been posted with a no entry notice ("Red-
Tagged") or limited entry notice ("Yellow-Tagged") or otherwise
suspected of containing structural damage must file with the City
Building and Safety Division ("Division") a written structural
analysis of the structure prepared by a licensed engineer or
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architect. This time period may be extended for an additional
thirty (30) days upon a finding of good cause by the Director of
Land Use and Transportation Management. If the structural
analysis is not filed within said thirty (30) day period or any
authorized extension, any persons who were tenants of the
building at the time of the damage shall be entitled to
displacement payments as set forth in section 4 below. In
addition, any owner not filing such analysis within such thirty
(30) day period or any authorized extension shall not be entitled
to the fee waivers established by Emergency Ordinance Number 1720
(CCS) for any subsequent permit or application connected with the
structure.
(b) After the expiration of the thirty (30) day period
or any authorized extension, if the owner has not filed such
analysis, any person who was a tenant of the structure at the
time of damage may file with the Division a structural analysis
prepared by a licensed engineer or architect. The Owner of the
structure shall fully cooperate with the person retained by the
tenant to prepare such analysis. . The filing of such report by
any tenant of the structure shall not relieve the owner of any
obligations under this Ordinance. The owner shall reimburse the
tenant for the expense of obtaining the report and the tenant may
maintain a civil action to recover the expense of obtaining the
report as well as costs and reasonable attorneys fees.
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(c) Any structural analysis filed with the Division
pursuant to this Ordinance will be made available for inspection
by any interested person at the Division of Building and Safety.
SECTION 3. Restoration of Vital Buildinq Svstems. The
owner of any tenant occupied commercial or residential structure,
which has been damaged by the earthquake or its aftershocks but
which has not been red-tagged or yellow-tagged, must restore
vital building systems within fifteen (15) days from the date of
this Ordinance. If vital building systems cannot be restored
within this fifteen (15) day period, the owner must demonstrate
to the satisfaction of the Building and Safety Division that all
steps possible to initiate and diligently pursue such restoration
have been taken. vital building systems shall mean restoration
of gas, water, electricity, emergency egress, and building
sanitation. If the vital building systems are not restored
within such fifteen (15) day period, and the owner has not
demonstrated that all steps possible to initiate and diligently
pursue such restoration have been taken, tenants of the building
shall be entitled to displacement payments as set forth in
section 4 below.
SECTION 4. DisDlacement Payments.
(a) Any displacement payment payable pursuant to this
Ordinance shall be calculated on a per unit basis. An owner who
,
has failed to comply with section 2 or 3 of this Ordinance shall
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pay to each of his, her, or its tenants, displacement payments
equal to the monthly Maximum Allowable Rent (MAR) or the actual
monthly rent if not subject to rent control, on a pro rata per
day basis, for each day of non-compliance.
(b) Any owner who fails to make such payments within
ten (10) days of when the payments accrued, shall be liable to
his, her, or its tenants for such payments plus costs and
reasonable attorneys fees in any civil action brought by the
tenant to obtain the payment.
(c) The City Attorney may maintain a civil action to
enforce this Ordinance and may obtain such legal and equitable
relief, including recovery of costs and reasonable attorneys
fees, as a court permits.
SECTION 5. Notice. The Director of the Land Use and
Transportation Management Department shall send to each owner of
a building which has received either a red or yellow tag for
structural deficiencies a notice setting forth their obligations
under this Ordinance, along with a copy of this Ordinance.
SECTION 6. Nothing in this Ordinance is intended to affect
any rights of any tenants under state, federal, or local law,
including the Rent Control Charter Amendment. No remedy provided
by this Ordinance, including the right to displacement payments
under section 4, is intended to abrogate the rights of any tenant
to any other remedy to which the tenant may be entitled under
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local, state or federal law, including the Rent Control Charter
Amendment.
SECTION 7. The City Council finds pursuant to City Charter
section 615 that a state of local emergency exists within the
City of Santa Monica as a result of the earthquake which occurred
on January 17, 1994. In order to facilitate the timely
completion of emergency assessment, and repair of vital building
systems, it is necessary to establish the procedures set forth
above. This Ordinance is necessary for preserving the public
peace, health and safety, and the urgency for its adoption is set
forth in the findings above.
SECTION 8. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code
or appendices thereto, inconsistent with the provisions of this
Ordinance, to the extent of such inconsistencies and no further,
are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary to
effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 9. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or
phrase of this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or
unconstitutional by a decision of any court of any competent
jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each and
every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
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declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether
any portion of the Ordinance would be subsequently declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 10. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall
attest to the passage of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall
cause the same to be published once in the official newspaper
within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall be
effective upon its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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Adopted and approved this 25th day of January, 1994.
~&i
ayor
I hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 1722 (CCS) was duly and regularly
introduced at a meeting of the City ,Council on the 25th day of January, 1994; that the said
Ordinance was thereafter duly adopted at a meeting of the City Council on the 25th day of
January, 1994 by the following Council vote:
Ayes:
Councilmembers:
Abdo, Genser, Greenberg, Holbrook, Olsen, Rosenstein,
Vazquez
Noes:
Councilmembers:
None
Abstain: Councilmembers: None
Absent: Councilmembers: None
ATTEST:
~~;3~
City Clerk