Pasadena Soft-Story Ordinance
Pasadena has a mandatory soft-story retrofit ordinance for certain existing wood-frame multifamily residential buildings with soft, weak, or open-front wall lines. The City’s Soft-Story Retrofit Ordinance was adopted through Ordinance No. 7345, which added Pasadena Municipal Code Chapter 14.08 for mandatory seismic strengthening of vulnerable wood-frame buildings.
The ordinance is intended to reduce the risk of full or partial collapse in older buildings with open parking, tuck-under parking, or other weak ground-floor conditions below residential units.
Which Buildings Are Covered?
Pasadena’s ordinance applies to certain existing wood-frame buildings, or wood-frame portions of buildings, that meet the City’s applicability criteria. A building may fall within the ordinance if:
- A permit for construction of a new building was applied for on or before November 12, 1976
- If no permit can be located, the Building Official determines the structure was built under code standards enacted before November 12, 1976
- The ground floor or basement contains parking or similar open floor space that creates soft, weak, or open-front wall lines
- The building contains residential units above the vulnerable lower-story condition
The ordinance does not apply to single-family residences or multiple-family residential parcels containing four or fewer units. It also does not apply to ground-floor or basement concrete podium levels with a rigid concrete diaphragm, unless the first wood-frame story above the podium has soft, weak, or open-front walls.
Pasadena Soft-Story Compliance Timeline
Pasadena’s deadlines are based on the date the City’s Notice to Owner was issued. Notices were sent to all affected properties in Priorities 1, 2, and 3 as of August 2021.
The City’s current compliance timeline is:
- Submit Screening Form, optional if the owner believes the property is exempt: within 1 year from Notice to Owner
- Submit Retrofit Plans and Obtain Building Permit: originally 3 years from Notice to Owner, extended to 4 years under Resolution No. 9774
- Complete Construction: within 7 years from Notice to Owner
Priority Designations
Pasadena grouped affected properties into three priority tiers:
- Priority I: parcels containing buildings with 3 or more stories, parcels containing 25 or more dwelling units total, or qualified historic buildings of any size or number of units
- Priority II: parcels containing 10 to 24 dwelling units total
- Priority III: parcels containing non-historic, 2-story buildings with 5 to 9 dwelling units total
The City’s current program page lists the notice dates as December 5, 2019 for Priority 1, December 2, 2020 for Priority 2, and March 3, 2021 for Priority 3.
Screening, Exemptions, and Retrofit Scope
Pasadena allows owners to submit a completed screening form within 1 year from Notice to Owner if they believe the property is exempt. For buildings that are not exempt, the ordinance requires retrofit plans, building permit approval, and construction completion within the applicable timeline.
The ordinance focuses on exterior soft, weak, or open-front wall lines. The required work is intended to improve the vulnerable portions of the building, not necessarily bring the entire structure up to new-construction seismic standards. Because the permit deadline was extended by Resolution No. 9774, owners should confirm current property-specific requirements with Pasadena Building and Safety before relying on older summaries.
Current Status for Pasadena Property Owners
Because Pasadena has already issued notices to all affected priority groups, many owners are now dealing with permit status, construction deadlines, final inspection, or unresolved compliance rather than initial notification.
Owners should confirm whether the building received a Notice to Owner, whether an exemption was submitted and accepted, whether retrofit plans and permits were approved, and whether construction has been completed and finaled.
Get Clear on Your Pasadena Retrofit Next Step
If your Pasadena property received a Notice to Owner or has unresolved retrofit documentation, the next step is understanding what City records show and what compliance action may still be required. Retrofit1 can help property owners review potential soft-story conditions, coordinate licensed structural evaluation, and plan the path through permitting, construction, final inspection, and compliance documentation when retrofit work is required.
When a building has seismic concerns beyond Pasadena’s soft-story ordinance, those improvements can be evaluated through earthquake retrofitting in Pasadena while keeping ordinance compliance and broader retrofit planning clearly separated.