DR-4407-CA Public Notice 010

INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE: California Earthquake Authority Soft Story Program for Residential Seismic Retrofits | HMGP 4407-104-149

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) proposes to provide federal financial assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) to implement the Earthquake Soft-Story (ESS) Program, which would include the retrofit of approximately 714 single-family residential buildings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Alameda counties. Soft-story residential buildings are those with large garage doors or openings at the lowest level, which significantly reduces the ability of the remaining walls to resist earthquake forces. Some of the residential buildings that would be retrofitted through this grant may be located within a floodplain. Pursuant to Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management) and FEMA’s implementing regulations at Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 9, FEMA hereby provides interested parties with a notice of its intent to carry out actions in a floodplain.

The purpose of the proposed action is to reduce the seismic vulnerability of soft-story residential buildings by bolting the structure to its foundation and bracing ground floor and garage door walls. ESS retrofit work would be done around the garage door and on the side and back walls of the residential building. The work may include (1) adding anchor bolts between the wood stud walls and the foundation to prevent the building from sliding; (2) adding plywood to the ground floor walls to help prevent the building from collapsing off its foundation; and (3) bracing the walls at the garage door by adding a steel column, steel frame, engineered shear wall, or plywood bracing to the walls on either side of the garage door. Residential buildings that would typically qualify for ESS retrofits would have no age restriction on when they were built, have a soft-story condition at the lowest level, sit on level ground or a low slope, and feature wood-frame construction. Staging and access would occur in the area adjacent to the crawl-space access/opening, typically next to the driveway or side yard of the property. Retrofits may be completed in one to three weeks and would not require land acquisition or right-of-way or access easements.

Additional information about FEMA’s proposed action and maps showing the potential impacts on floodplains may be obtained by writing the FEMA Region IX Environmental Officer at FEMA, 1111 Broadway, Suite 1200, Oakland, California 94607 or fema-rix-ehp-documents@fema.dhs.gov. All requests should be received within 15 days after publication of this notice.