Seismic placarding requirement on hold in Portland.

Byline: Chuck Slothower

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has ordered Portland Fire & Rescue to delay enforcing a requirement for unreinforced masonry buildings to display a warning placard.

Hardesty, who oversees the fire bureau, announced the move Thursday.

"No one is interested in putting our residents at risk, but we need to look at ways to better support businesses and nonprofits in seismically upgrading their buildings," Hardesty said in a prepared statement. "A placard is a Band-Aid for a much larger problem. Until we have better support in place, especially in the form of funding assistance for these projects, I want placarding enforcement on hold for businesses and nonprofit organizations."

Multifamily property owners and leaders of many of Portland's historically black churches had criticized the ordinance, saying it does nothing to help them perform seismic retrofits. Such projects can cost millions of dollars for large buildings.

The placarding requirement is scheduled to take effect March 1 for commercial businesses. Nonprofit groups have until November 2020.

Hardesty's order puts on hold a major policy initiative of Mayor Ted Wheeler. In a prepared statement issued Friday, he noted the requirement remains on the books.

"I stand by City Council's decision to pass an ordinance requiring the placement of placarding on unreinforced masonry buildings," Wheeler stated. "We voted to take a small but important step to be transparent about identifying buildings that are at risk in an earthquake. These signs share basic information to the public about the safety of a building."

Wheeler noted "the requirement to put earthquake warning signs is still the law. I will continue to work with Commissioner Hardesty and building owners to ensure the safety of all Portlanders."

During a heated battle last year, the City Council struggled to settle on a policy that would encourage building owners to seismically strengthen vulnerable buildings. A city inventory identified 1,631 unreinforced masonry buildings, mostly in close-in historic neighborhoods.

Former Commissioner Dan Saltzman and others had pushed for requiring building owners to perform retrofits.

Multifamily landlords have advocated for financial incentives to conduct retrofits. The placarding policy makes little sense as public policy, said Greg Frick, founder and partner at HFO Investment Real Estate.

"It's an example of the city rushing in with something that looks good that doesn't solve the problem," he said.

Geologists have said Western Oregon is overdue for a potentially devastating Cascadia subduction quake. Worldwide, unreinforced masonry buildings have proved to be dangerous in earthquakes.

The text of the required placards reads: "This is an Unreinforced Masonry Building. Unreinforced Masonry Buildings may be unsafe in an event of a Major Earthquake."

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