VENTURA : Proposed Quake Rules Criticized

The Ventura City Council heard public testimony Monday on two proposed ordinances requiring downtown landlords to strengthen unreinforced masonry buildings.

Council members voted 7 to 0 to set a formal public hearing on the ordinances for Nov. 18, but held an impromptu hearing at which critics of the ordinances lambasted the council.

Several critics attacked the inch-thick environmental report, which city-hired engineers wrote explaining the ordinances.

“I personally believe that that report is the most shabby, horrible piece of junk--piece of garbage--that we have,” said John Hibbs, a spokesman for the Committee to Preserve Historic Ventura.

Hibbs and other critics said the construction required to strengthen the buildings might be as dangerous to safety and business downtown as any earthquake.

At the public hearing, the council will hear testimony on an ordinance requiring downtown landlords to anchor the tile roofs and brick parapets of 138 unreinforced masonry buildings to make them more resistant to earthquakes. The ordinance also requires landlords to coat windows larger than three feet square with shatterproof glazing.

Also to be discussed is an ordinance requiring landlords to strengthen walls and floors of unreinforced masonry buildings--but only when the buildings change use. For instance, a landlord converting a building from a store to a restaurant would be required to do the reinforcing work.

Earlier this year, the council considered passing an ordinance that would have required landlords to strengthen all unreinforced masonry buildings.

But in July the state Legislature amended the building code to require such work to be done whenever unreinforced masonry buildings have their uses changed.