SANTA PAULA : Businesses Asked to Meet Quake Codes

Santa Paula business owners will be asked to voluntarily fix any buildings that do not meet state codes for earthquake safety, the City Council decided Monday.

The vote came in response to a new California law requiring cities to identify all such buildings and to develop a program to bring them in line with those codes, said Stephen Stuart, city building and safety director.

The structures in question were built before earthquake safety laws were passed and lack internal reinforcement. They do not withstand earthquakes well and have been the cause of injuries and deaths, Stuart said.

There are about 50,000 such unreinforced masonry buildings in seismically active regions of California. There are 121, including stores, offices, restaurants and churches, in Santa Paula.

Individual private residences and most warehouses are excluded.

Certified letters will be sent to the owners of the buildings that do not meet the standards, requesting that the necessary work be done. The city will tell owners what the requirements are and offer advice on repairs, officials said.

“It is our intent to work closely with these business owners to get voluntary compliance,” Stuart said. “We don’t want to have to make it mandatory.”

If the voluntary program does not get good results, the state will come in and take over and the requirements will be stiffer, Councilman Carl Barringer said.