(a) "Bearing wall" means any wall supporting a floor or roof where the total superimposed load exceeds one hundred pounds per linear foot, or any unreinforced masonry wall supporting its own weight when over six feet in height.
(b) "Building," for the purpose of determining occupant load, means any contiguous or interconnected structure; for purposes of engineering evaluation, means the entire structure or a portion thereof which will respond to seismic forces as a unit.
(c) "Capacity for transfer" means the maximum allowable capacity of a structural system or connection to resist in a ductile manner the lateral forces it would encounter due to earthquake forces.
(d) "Civil engineer or structural engineer" means a licensed civil or structural engineer registered by the state of California pursuant to the rules and regulations of Title 16, Chapter 5 of the California Administrative Code.
(e) "External hazard" means an object attached to or forming the exterior facade of a building which may fall onto pedestrians or occupants of adjacent buildings. Examples of this type of hazard include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Nonstructural exterior wall panels, such as masonry infill or decorative precast concrete;
(2) Parapets;
(3) Marquees, awnings or other roof-like projections from a building;
(4) Masonry or stone wall veneer and wall ornamentation, including cornices or other decorative appendages;
(5) Masonry chimneys;
(6) Tile roofing;
(7) Wall signs and exterior lighting fixtures hung from a building exterior;
(8) Fire escapes or balconies.
(f) "Geometry" means a building's shape or configuration, including setbacks of wall/column lines, reentrant corners, discontinuities in vertical and horizontal lateral force diaphragms, open storefront and building stiffness variations due to the distribution of resisting elements or the use of materials of differing properties within the same structural element, or other irregularities in plan or elevation.
(g) "Occupants" means the total occupant load of a building determinedm pursuant to the Uniform Building Code, or the actual maximum number of occupants in that building if that number is less than seventy-five percent of the number determined pursuant to the code. The number of actual occupants may be documented by counting actual seating capacity if permanent seating is provided in the occupancy, or by employee and client counts which can be substantiated as a practical maximum use of the space in the building. The chief building official will establish the procedure for documenting occupant loads.
(h) "Solution" means any justifiable method that will provide for the transfer of lateral forces through a system or connection to a degree which will substantially eliminate a potential collapse failure. A general description of the methods and materials to be used shall be included in sufficient detail to allow for a cost estimate of the solution to be made (i.e., adding shear walls, overlaying horizontal diaphragms, strengthening critical connections, etc.).
(i) "Unreinforced masonry" ("URM") building means any building containing walls constructed wholly or partially with any of the following materials:
(1) Unreinforced brick masonry;
(2) Unreinforced concrete masonry;
(3) Hollow clay tile;
(4) Adobe or unburned clay masonry.
(Ord. 4642 § 28, 2000: Ord. 3666 § 1 (part), 1986)