Safety Becomes a Priority in Aftermath of Quakes : Tremors: Officials scramble to have buildings comply with the city’s safety ordinance. Nearly 300 must be upgraded or razed.

Residents of the 12-story Cooper Arms Building were not thrilled when they had to spend more than $500,000 to upgrade their historic structure to survive strong earthquakes.

But the expense became much more palatable June 28 when strong temblors centered in Landers and Big Bear sent shock waves to the ocean, spokesman Randal Quinn said.

“We saw some plaster cracking, but there was no structural damage,” said Quinn, vice president of the 159-unit residential co-op on Ocean Boulevard.

Cooper Arms is one of 268 buildings in Long Beach that have been outfitted with shock-absorbing and reinforcing walls and other devices to comply with the city’s strict earthquake-safety ordinance, said Ken Kayastha, a senior civil engineer who is overseeing the earthquake-safety program.

Another 297 buildings have been designated earthquake hazards and must be upgraded or demolished.

Luckily, Kayastha said, the shock waves from the recent quakes were relatively gentle in Long Beach. No buildings sustained structural damage, he said.

“The epicenters (of the earthquakes) were pretty far from Long Beach, so we did not suffer enough damage to be of concern,” Kayastha said.

Security Pacific Bank and Farmers & Merchants Bank, both city-designated historic buildings on Pine Avenue downtown, drew the most attention after the earthquakes.

Plaster fell off the exterior of the buildings, which were cordoned off by city officials. But inspectors declared them structurally sound the next day.

A portion of the Farmers & Merchants Bank parking lot remained closed earlier this week, Kayastha said, because damaged plaster needed to be removed from an adjacent bank wall.

Farmers & Merchants Bank is one of the buildings that still must be upgraded to meet earthquake-safety standards. Kayastha said building officials are to submit a plan in the next several weeks.

The Security Pacific building meets city earthquake-safety ordinances, he said.

The ordinance targets pre-1934 buildings constructed of un-reinforced masonry. Those buildings survived the 1933 Long Beach earthquake that killed 115 people when it shook apart many un-reinforced masonry structures.

The disaster prompted state officials to begin upgrading California’s building code. As a result, buildings constructed after 1933 are more resistant to earthquake damage.

Long Beach officials had hoped their building-safety program would be further along by now, but there have been setbacks.

To start, the city had difficulty locating and notifying some owners about the requirements, Kayastha said. And some owners dragged their feet because of the expense, he said.

To help, the city issued $17.4 million in bonds last June to finance the repairs. About $8.7 million of the bond money has been spent on building improvements, said City Treasurer Dick Hilde.

The owners of about 150 buildings, who will benefit from the bond issue, became part of a special assessment district and will pay off the bonds, officials said.

The city has had to get tough with some reluctant owners.

So far, the city’s Board of Examiners, Appeals and Condemnation has ordered the owners of 35 buildings to fix or demolish their buildings. As a last resort, the city could upgrade or demolish the buildings and bill the owners.

The owners of 32 of those buildings have agreed to meet the city’s earthquake safety standards. Two of the owners have appealed to the City Council, and the third is seeking a new hearing before the Board of Examiners, Kayastha said.

City officials had hoped all of the city’s un-reinforced masonry buildings would be upgraded or demolished by the end of this year, which is now unlikely, Kayastha said.

“We might not have all the buildings repaired by the end of ‘92,” Kayastha said. “But we’re trying our best.”