The city of Beverly Hills Ordinance #18-O-2767 went into effect on January 11, 2019. The ordinance establishing mandatory standards for earthquake hazard reduction in existing wood-frame buildings with soft, weak, or open-front walls is available here.

Scope

The mandatory seismic retrofit program for the city of Beverly Hills includes soft-story buildings identified by the following characteristics:

  • Wood-frame construction
  • Construction permit was applied for prior to January 1, 1978
  • Two or more dwelling units
  • The ground floor or basement portion of the structure contains parking or other similar open floor space that causes soft, weak, or open-front wall lines and there exists one or more stories above

A visual field survey and permit records research have been performed to identify structures with the above listed characteristics. Approximately 300 buildings in Beverly Hills were identified and have been issued notices to comply.

Priority Designations

Buildings were split up into three tiers in order of urgency to complete the retrofit.

  • Tier 1: Buildings with 3+ stories
  • Tier 2: Buildings with 2 stories and 6+ units
  • Tier 3: All other buildings subject to the ordinance

Timeline

The city of Beverly Hills requires that wood-frame soft-story building retrofits adhere to the timeline shown below. An official Notice to Comply was issued to owners of buildings that fall within the scope of the ordinance. Once the Notice to Comply was received, the subsequent deadlines were initiated. Notices to Comply were delivered between July 2019 and August 2020 in the phases outlined above, according to the priority level of the structure.

MILESTONE REQUIREMENT
PROCESS BEGINS Notice is served to Owner
6 MONTHS AFTER NOTICE Deadline to submit screening form
1 YEAR AFTER NOTICE Deadline to submit retrofit plans and documents
2 YEARS AFTER NOTICE Deadline to obtain building permit
2.5 YEARS AFTER NOTICE Deadline to commence construction
3 YEARS AFTER NOTICE Deadline to complete construction and obtain final inspection approval

 

According to the City of Beverly Hills Soft-Story Program webpage, as of January 2022, compliance with submitting a completed screening form and compliance with submitting retrofit plans for permit application are both now past due.