Responding to widespread reports that steel building frames cracked during the Northridge earthquake, city officials are pushing a costly proposal to require the inspection of at least 400 steel-frame office buildings throughout the San Fernando Valley and the Westside.
The proposal--the first step in the city's strategy for addressing the most startling discovery of the Jan. 17 quake--is sparking dissent among building owners.
But it is expected to draw support from safety-minded tenants of the buildings, which include many of Los Angeles' high-rises.
Councilman Hal Bernson, who also serves on the state Seismic Safety Commission, agreed Friday to take the building officials' proposal to the City Council next week.
Under the proposal, building owners in the Valley and along the San Diego Freeway corridor from the Valley to Santa Monica will be required to inspect their buildings within three months of notification by the city.
Such inspections by structural engineers and ultrasonic testing firms involve tearing into walls and stripping steel columns of fireproofing to examine the frames for cracks.
Owners would have one year from the time they are notified to fix the problems.
The city is also considering whether to require owners of many of the remaining 600 steel-frame buildings, including those in Hollywood and Century City, to conduct similar inspections.
Depending on the inspection results, Bernson and building officials said, they may seek a citywide ordinance to retrofit, or shore up, all 1,000 steel-frame buildings.
Karl Deppe, assistant chief of the Building and Safety Department's resource management bureau, said a citywide retrofitting program, though costly and time consuming, is likely. He said steel buildings constructed after 1970 would probably be affected by such a program.
Bernson said: "Building owners don't want to spend money. . . . Some of them don't have the money. But we have to ensure people's safety."
Tom Sabol, an engineer who serves on the city's building and safety panel studying the problem with steel-frame buildings, said: "I would recommend retrofitting all (of them). None of these structures collapsed. Nevertheless, in a more significant earthquake, it may overwhelm the reserve strength of these structures."
Steel-framed mid- and high-rise buildings are designed to bend with the enormous forces of an earthquake without breaking and were considered among the safest to ride out an earthquake.
