There’s an idea just above the trees near the Ballard Smoke Shop that says time is a flat revolving circle and that all past and future events have already happened. If that’s the case then the grand mal earthquake geologists have predicted will devastate the West Coast and Seattle has already happened and is going to happen again.

A gloomy scene, indeed.

However, there’s work being done, well, at least for buildings. The viaduct may slip into the ether, but Seattleites can rest easy knowing that the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) has identified all the buildings that are considered “high risk” and likely to crumble, “come down” should the Juan De Fuca plate bump uglies with the North American plate.

“Unreinforced Masonry (URM) buildings are the most vulnerable building type in the event of an earthquake. A typical URM is a brick building built prior to 1940 that lacks the steel reinforcement and structural connections between the floors and walls,” said Bryan Stevens, media handler for the SDCI. “We haven’t allowed these types of buildings for many decades, but there are roughly 1,100 of them in Seattle.”

Exactly 1164 URM buildings have been validated by the SDCI. 69 of those types of buildings are in Ballard and are concentrated in the heart of the neighborhood on Ballard Avenue N.W. i.e. Old Ballard.

“Ballard is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Seattle, with building construction beginning in the late 19th century. Like other areas of the city with a historic commercial core, many of the buildings were constructed using unreinforced masonry. Ballard isn’t alone. URMs can be found in other neighborhood like Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill and Wallingford.”

The impending quake spurred SDCI to complete an extensive URM building inventory list. In identifying the buildings most affected they hope for seismic retrofitting that could substantially limit the risk, however the buildings would not still no be up date with today’s building code.

“URMs buildings are located in areas subject to strong ground motion. Damage to these buildings during earthquakes is well-documented and has been a growing concern not only for the city of Seattle, but for the region and the State of Washington.”

The program aims to mandate that building owners comply with retrofitting standards. The retrofitting includes something called bracing, which is basically making sure that the brick walls are tied to the floors and roof of the building.
The SDCI issued notification letters to building owners last April, and owners have time to appeal the status of their building, but they need to hire an engineer to determine whether the building does not contain any URM bearing walls. Incidentally, the City did not conduct an analysis of this kind when determining their validation list. Their list combines all the past studies and observations of exterior views of the buildings, as well as microfilm of building plans and historical documents gathered from the Seattle Public Library. Using this data the SDCI has issued an extensive report on the URM buildings and can be found on their website.

“Public safety is the primary reason we’re proposing a mandatory retrofit program for URMs. … When a building is damaged, occupants in the building are in danger of injury. Debris from the damaged buildings often will block the adjacent sidewalks and roadways which delays emergency response and can prolong overall neighborhood recovery.”

However, safety is not the only reason. Stevens reported that the City is also concerned with maintaining historically significant buildings that make up the essence of historical and cultural character of Seattle neighborhoods.

“Requiring retrofits for URMs means that more of these ‘character buildings” may be preserved after an earthquake. Retrofits also will help lessen damage to these buildings, allowing businesses to reopen more quickly following a smaller earthquake.”

The imminent earthquake is predicted to dwarf the Nisqually quake from 2001, which was considered a moderate one. Incidentally, the structures damaged most severely during that quake were URM buildings. Also, Stevens reported that of buildings deemed unsafe to enter after the quake, two-thirds were URMs.

“As a City, we’re trying to balance the need to improve seismic safety in our most vulnerable buildings while not encouraging demolition of character buildings due to an inability or unwillingness to upgrade. These building types exist all over the state. We’ve been discussing the issue with Representative Pettigrew and look forward to continuing those conversations in Olympia.”

As of now the program still needs to undergo a public survey and the URM Policy Committee will reconvene to finalize recommendations later this year.