Title
Introduction of Ordinance Amending the Alameda Municipal Code by Adding Section 13-12 Use and Occupancy of Damaged Buildings and Structures/Use of Placard or Signs to Chapter XIII Article I. (Fire 3205)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda (City), through adoption of the California Building Code into the Alameda Municipal Code (13-2.1), has the ability to place Applied Technology Council 20 (ATC-20) Building Safety Evaluation Placards (Placards) on buildings when such buildings are rendered unsafe for human occupancy and to receive assistance from building inspectors from other jurisdictions and trained volunteers to assist during times of disaster or other needs. This ordinance addresses the need to have the legal right to enforce the ATC-20 Placards following posting. Placards have been widely used in past earthquakes to denote the condition of buildings and structures.
In many cases, Placards have been those recommended in the ATC-20 publication. However, because most jurisdictions have not officially adopted Placards, these unofficial Placards represent only a recommendation from those who performed the evaluation. Thus, currently the Placards do not carry the weight of law and cannot be enforced. Adopting the Placards by ordinance makes them official and enforceable.
BACKGROUND
In 1989, with funding from the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Applied Technology Council (ATC) published the ATC-20 Procedures for Post-earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, and companion ATC-20-1 Field Manual: Post-earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, Second Edition (revised in early 2005). Written specifically for volunteer structural engineers and building inspectors, these reports include rapid and detailed evaluation procedures for evaluating earthquake-damaged build...
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