FEMA to Share San Fernando Courthouse Repair Bill

Overcoming a significant hurdle in the long-delayed effort to fix the quake-damaged San Fernando Courthouse, Los Angeles County and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have agreed that FEMA will pay for some of the repair costs, officials said Monday.

The courthouse, the largest county facility in the San Fernando Valley still closed due to the Northridge earthquake, housed the North Valley branches of the Superior and Municipal courts, which are temporarily operating out of Van Nuys Courthouse.

In the months after the 12-year-old San Fernando courthouse was red-tagged due to damage sustained in the Jan. 17, 1994, quake, the county, FEMA and adjusters from insurance firms that had issued earthquake policies on the building began squabbling about which entity would pay for what damage--and even about the total damage figure.

The county had originally claimed the figure was $30 million, while subsequent estimates brought it down to about $13 million.

But after a recent inspection by its own structural engineers, FEMA estimated the damage at about $9 million--a figure the county accepted, said Al Tizani, the county’s liaison with FEMA.

And late Friday, FEMA agreed to pay the county’s $1.175-million deductible on the insurance policy, Tizani said.

The county hopes that the agreement with FEMA paves the way for an accord in the next few days with the insurance companies, who in the past have disagreed with the county’s damage estimates.

“It’s like when there are two structural engineers and they have five different opinions, that’s where we are now,” Tizani said. “But we are determined to speed things up. We are just trying to pin down the areas of disagreement.”

Representatives of the insurance companies could not be reached late Monday.

Included in damage to the Spanish mission-style building that must be repaired, county officials say, are deep cracks in walls, the failure of support columns and buckling in the roof and ceiling.

A spokeswoman for the county Department of Public Works said Monday that the county is ready to solicit contracts to fix the building, but is awaiting word from the county’s chief administrative office, which is handling negotiations.

“We have the design and the building permits, but we’re in limbo now,” said spokeswoman Donna Guyovich.

County officials, stung by criticism when the county failed to meet earlier deadlines for repairing the courthouse, declined to estimate when it will reopen.