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O1722 '" 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. 1 (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 2 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. 3 (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 4 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 5 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 6 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: 7 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