CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION declaring the City Council's and the Mayor's intent to recognize the seismic retrofit of unreinforced masonry buildings in compliance with the City's URM Retrofit Technical Standard.
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WHEREAS, The City of Seattle (City) has over 1,100 unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs), which are buildings typically built before 1945 with brick or clay tile bearing walls where the parapets and walls are not secured to the floors and roofs; and
WHEREAS, URMs are vulnerable to damage or collapse during earthquakes, potentially endangering people within the buildings if walls fully or partially collapse and pedestrians if parapets break away and fall into the street; and
WHEREAS, in 2015 the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) compiled a list of probable URM buildings; and
WHEREAS, in 2016 SDCI provided written notification to URM building owners of the seismic vulnerability of their buildings; and
WHEREAS, in 2021 the City Council (Council) and Mayor passed Resolution 32033, guiding the creation of a URM retrofit program with the primary goal of protecting life safety by reducing the risk of injury from collapse in the event of an earthquake and additional goals of preserving Seattle's historically and culturally significant landmarks and structures that contribute to neighborhood character, improve the City's resiliency to earthquake events, and minimize the impact of a URM retrofit program on vulnerable populations to the extent financially feasible; and
WHEREAS, Resolution 32033 recommends the phasing in of a future URM retrofit program that includes:
A. A definition of URMs;
B. The type of seismic retrofit standard required to bring URMs into compliance, acknowledging that there may be different standards for different types of buildings;
C. A system to categorize building types and/or uses that prioritizes key buildings and services;
D. A timeline for compliance;
E. An enforce...
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