Streamlined FEMA Quake Assistance Seen : Aid: Criticized for excessive red tape in past disasters, the federal agency has put on a new face. A recent agreement increases the state’s role in approving Northridge earthquake rebuilding projects.

It took only a few seconds in 1989 for the strains of the Loma Prieta earthquake to wreak destruction on a historic portion of Stanford University’s main library.

But it will take eight years or longer to repair the damage. Mired in disputes between state and federal officials, the graceful building that dates to 1919 is not expected to be open to students before 1997.

Scenarios such as this concern California authorities as they begin to rebuild Southern California after the Northridge earthquake. They hope that such conflicts will not be replayed as the Los Angeles area shifts its attention from the shocks of the temblor to long-term restoration of public facilities.

The record after disasters such as the Loma Prieta quake and southern Florida’s Hurricane Andrew is not promising. Many projects were stalled by mounds of paperwork, public debate over reconstruction and disputes over the design and costs of rebuilding.

“This phase we’re going into has not been an entirely positive one in terms of past experience,” said Richard Andrews, director of California’s Office of Emergency Services.

Although Andrews remains wary, there are encouraging signs that the agency that oversees disaster efforts, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has put on a new face. FEMA Director James Lee Witt, who inherited numerous drawn-out controversies when he took over the agency last year, has taken steps to alleviate some longstanding problems and streamline the process to avoid delays in rebuilding.

In addition, he recently concluded an agreement with California that gives the state greater responsibility in reviewing and approving projects that improve damaged buildings beyond their pre-quake conditions. And he vowed to a congressional subcommittee that FEMA will spend most of the $4.7 billion appropriated to it to assist in quake recovery efforts before the end of 1995.

The Stanford library wing is illustrative of both California’s frustrations with FEMA and the newfound optimism. After more than four years of wrangling over the costs of repairs, FEMA and university officials last month reached an agreement. Disputes involving several other damaged buildings on the campus are also close to being concluded, said Valery Veronin, Stanford’s acting director of facilities.

“Witt has made a big difference and we have noticed positive changes all the way through the FEMA organization,” Veronin said. “Before, they were talking about returning buildings to their pre-earthquake conditions; now they’re talking mitigation, and that’s a big difference.”

At stake in Los Angeles is the timetable for restoring hundreds of public buildings such as the Van Nuys City Hall complex, which sustained an estimated $7 million in damage; the Barnsdall Park and Recreation Center, with an estimated $2 million in damage; the Greek Theater, which officials estimate will cost at least $250,000 to fix, and the 62-year-old Los Angeles Coliseum, with a price tag estimated at $35 million.

Of the $4.7 billion appropriated to FEMA for the earthquake recovery effort, $2.8 billion has been promised to help local governments repair damaged structures.

Andrews said that after the Loma Prieta quake, “FEMA essentially became a design engineering firm which attempted to redesign all of our proposed projects. There was a tendency to constantly seek the cheapest solution--even if it was not in the public interest.”

Richard W. Krimm, FEMA’s associate director in charge of response and recovery, disagreed.

“We have tried to be practical and also have the buildings meet whatever the current codes are,” he said. “With so many disasters, we have to be fiscally responsible in administering the program.”

But FEMA officials also concede that operations in the past have not run as smoothly as they would have liked.

At the hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee reviewing FEMA’s 1995 budget request, lawmakers voiced concern about the agency’s performance in a catastrophe once is it no longer the stuff of the evening news.

California Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) told Witt that “after the crisis had disappeared from the mind’s eye,” there is a danger that long-term rebuilding projects will “fall through the cracks.”

Rep. Carrie P. Meek (D-Fla.) complained to Witt that after Hurricane Andrew there seemed to be a “lack of consistency in the decision-making process within FEMA.”

Meek, in a later interview, described a maddening process in which hundreds of cleanup and rebuilding projects were given the green light by one set of FEMA officials, only to be halted by another group of bureaucrats--with demands that money already expended be returned to FEMA. Meeks and other Florida officials said that Witt has begun to clear up these conflicts in recent days. Witt plans to travel to Florida shortly in an effort to wrap them up.

“There have been some initial steps taken to resolve these issues,” said Toni Riordan, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Community Affairs. But, she added, “we have 18 months of unfairness and unhappiness to resolve.”

And despite FEMA’s new efforts under Witt, California officials say the agency has still failed to pay out 41% of the $431 million promised to the Bay Area to repair public facilities damaged by the Loma Prieta quake, although FEMA disputes the figure. San Francisco’s elegant City Hall is still braced with scaffolding because state officials and FEMA have not been able to agree on the cost of the work.

State and city officials estimate that the price tag will be at least $120 million. FEMA, relying on assessments from its engineers, so far has agreed to pay about $4 million. Krimm contends that the delays stem from the city’s desire to rebuild with costly state-of-the-art technology.

“We don’t oppose that, but we have to look at the taxpayers’ dollars involved,” he said.

At Stanford, the multimillion-dollar rebuilding project at the west wing of the Green Library ran into similar snags. FEMA engineers produced an estimate for restoring the building that was far lower than that arrived at by the state and university officials.

“FEMA proposed a design that Santa Clara County building inspectors refused to approve,” said state emergency chief Andrews. “They said: ‘We won’t give you a permit to open if it’s built like that.’ ”

Stanford’s Veronin said that university officials submitted a claim for $20 million in repairs; FEMA, she said, insisted that the building could be repaired for $11 million. After four years, the disaster agency agreed last month to repair costs of $21 million.

Andrews said he is committed to preventing Northridge repairs from “dragging on for years and years” and that Witt, an old friend, shares that commitment.

Los Angeles officials say they are hopeful that FEMA has adopted a new direction under Witt.

The city has received about $75 million from FEMA on repair projects expected to total $400 million, said Bob Canfield, a city emergency preparedness officer.

To cover its bases, Los Angeles has hired a consulting firm familiar with FEMA procedures to help the city maximize its claims.

“We’re trying to get an awful lot of money, so when these issues come up, we want to be prepared,” Canfield said.

Carla Rivera reported from Los Angeles and Alan C. Miller reported from Washington.