Phone: 503-823-4375
Fax: 503-823-3903
TDD: 503-823-3947
Unreinforced Masonry (URM) Seismic Retrofit Project
Information about the City of Portland committee looking at seismic policy issues involving unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings.
The URM Policy Committee has been meeting monthly to prepare a seismic retrofit policy for Portland City Council to consider in 2017. Click here for the Policy Committee's draft report and click here for the draft cover memo.
Click here to view public comments received on the proposed policy.
The committee's final meeting is on Wednesday, October 4th from 3-5 p.m. at Prosper Portland (222 NW 5th Avenue).
Portland City Council will hold its first session to review the committee's final recommendations on Thursday, October 19th from 2-5 p.m. at Portland City Hall (1221 SW 4th Avenue). Council will not vote on any changes to the building code at this meeting.
If you are interested in receiving updates about the project, click here and ask to be added to our email distribution list.
Project Information
- April 4, 2017 URM Project Summary
- April 4, 2017 URM Council Work Session Presentation
- URM Project Description
- URM Workplan
- URM Overview Video
- Public Forum Documents
- General Public Comments
- April 4, 2016 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - Portland's Mandatory URM Retrofit Policy Presentation
- December 15, 2015 URM Council Work Session Presentation
- May 20, 2015 Joint Retrofit Standards-Seismic Retrofit Support Committee Documents
- December 10, 2014 Kickoff Meeting Documents
Committee Resources
Resources for the Portland URM Seismic Retrofit Project.
- 2003 Report to the California Legilature: Status of the URM Building Law
- DOGAMI Maps and Building Damage Counts
- Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission (OSSPAC)
- Oregon Seismic Rehabilitation Task Force: Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Buildings in Oregon (1996)
- Oregon Seismic Rehabilitation Task Force: Seismic Rehabilitation of Existing Building in Oregon (1996) - Excerpt
- Oregon Resilience Plan (2013)
- Oregon Resilience Plan - Business and Workforce Community Excerpts
- Oregon - Restore Oregon: Resilient Masonry Buildings (2012)
- California - Historic Buildings Committee: URM Buildings Fact Sheet (2004)
- Portland - Earthquake Risk Analysis Report, Vol. One (1995)
- Portland - North and Eastside Portland Unreinforced Masonry Building Survey Project Report (2013)
- Portland - URM Mandatory Seismic Strengthening (2013)
- Seattle - Community Impacts of Mitigation Policy (1992)
- Seattle - Final Report From URM Technical Committee & Proposed Retrofit Standard (2011)
- Seattle - Unreinforced Masonry Retrofit Policy: Benefit Cost Analysis (2014)
- Seattle - City of Seattle Recommendations for an Unreinforced Masonry Policy (2013)
- Seattle - Summary Report of URM Retrofit Laws
- Seattle - URM Project Documents
- Best Practices - An Overview of URM Retrofit Laws
- Seismic Regulations in Chapter 24.85 for URMs
BDS URM Database
Click to be redirected to a searchable database of Portland URM buildings.