Will the Hollywood Earthquake Fault Make WeHo Tumble? Here’s What You Can Do to Minimize Damage If It Does

[dropcap]Q. [/dropcap]What is the City of West Hollywood doing to protect its residents from a possible earthquake?

[dropcap]A. [/dropcap]John Keho, the city’s assistant community development director, told WEHOville.com last week that the city will ask a geologist with whom it has a contract to evaluate the Hollywood fault line map released last week.

West Hollywood already has two “fault precaution zones” in which it regulates development. In Zone 1, which covers the area identified as the Hollywood earthquake fault zone by KFM GeoScience, no new building in permitted with 50 feet of an active fault. The city will, however, permit alterations or additions to existing buildings so long as they don’t increase the floor area by more than 50 percent or 10,000 square feet, which ever is less.

The no-build restriction doesn’t apply to single-family homes of two stories or less or to developments of no more than four detached single-family homes of two stories or less or to developments of up to eight units, provided that each unit has living space on the first floor with a minimum of two first-floor exits.

In the city’s Zone 2, which lies about 200 feet south of Zone 1, the chances of the ground rupturing are considered to be less. Building is permitted there so long as the builder does a “fault rupture investigation,” approved in advance by the city, to make sure the new building isn’t within 50 feet of an active fault. The builder also must submit to the city for approval soil and geology studies.

West Hollywood’s study of the CGS fault line map presumably will focus on whether the fault line zone it has used in regulating development along Sunset Boulevard is consistent with the zone identified in the more intensive CGS study.

The City of Los Angeles is taking an aggressive approach to last week’s release of the Hollywood fault map. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Tuesday that Los Angeles would partner with the U.S. Geologic Survey to identify potential problems, talk with property owners about solutions and work with earthquake and construction experts to find solutions to those problems.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles City Council is considering requiring that vulnerable buildings in the city be identified and catalogued. LA City Council members Tom LaBonge and Mitch Englander are proposing the city sponsor state legislation that would provide money to building owners to retrofit their buildings to make them safer.

Also, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety will require developers applying for permission for new projects in the earthquake zone to determine if and exactly where the fault might lie on their property. Already approved projects where construction hasn’t begun will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

State law state requires seismic testing in a fault zone to determine whether a proposed building will actually be sitting on top of a fault, which is forbidden. Such testing requires digging a trench in the ground. However, that law is not applicable for buildings along the Hollywood earthquake fault until the map released last week is finalized this summer. The West Hollywood City Council could, if it so desires, enact an ordinance requiring that testing immediately for projects proposed or currently under construction in the zone.

Opposition from building owners and developers in the past has forestalled aggressive efforts by local governments to regulate construction in earthquake fault zones or require retrofitting buildings deemed vulnerable to an earthquake.