I've never seen something so backward. First they did several professional studies and said there was no fault. Construction begins (I've been there, it has already started). Now they find there is a fault. How could that not have been discovered previously? And if it was an unknown, who starts massive construction with the idea it may be canceled or halted altogether? Crazy.
JasonIn a message dated 11/7/2014 12:35:13 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com writes:
Map: See Where The Earthquake Fault Line Runs In Hollywood
*This report actually states that the fault IS active.*
The California Geological Survey has finally released their completed map of the estimated fault line that runs through Hollywood. Now, we can nervously check to see if we live anywhere near it.
They've concluded that the fault line is active and could produce up to a 7 magnitude earthquake, according to the L.A. Times. The map reveals that the fault line runs right under the Millennium Hollywood project, a new and massive development that would house the tallest skyscraper in Hollywood at 39 stories high. It would also include another 35-story building, and both buildings would be filled with restaurants, offices and hotel rooms.
When Millennium Hollywood hired their own private geologists earlier this year to figure out where the fault line runs, they determined that it didn't go under their project. But now with the California Geological Survey saying that it does, things are going to get tricky for the developers. Some parts of the fault run a little north of Hollywood Boulevard, and just south of the Capitol Records building by Vine Street. The project surrounds Capitol Records.
The City Council approved the Millennium Hollywood project last year, but due to concerns over the fault line, the developers haven't even applied for permits to start construction. Previously, Mayor Eric Garcetti didn't want permits issued until it all got sorted out and he got his results from the state's geologists.
The ones who get to decide on whether Millennium Hollywood can move forward with construction is the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. They could choose to halt the project, allow them to build it anyway, let them redesign their development to go around the fault line or allow room for another study. The developer's consultant, Michael Reader, told the Times that they're "disappointed" and believe that the state's final map is "incorrect."
But the agency won't be able to make a decision until the developers hand over their own geological maps to them so they can study them, but Millennium Hollywood hasn't done that yet.
You can view a larger version of the Hollywood fault lines map here.
http://laist.com/2014/11/06/map_see_where_the_earthquake_fault.php
On Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 3:57 PM, Kim Noyes kimnoyes@gmail.com [geology2] <geology2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hollywood-fault-map-20141106-story.html#page=1Massive Hollywood project sits atop quake fault, California says
Los Angeles TimesNovember 6, 2014, 11:14 a.m.
California’s state geologist has concluded that an active earthquake fault is underneath a massive proposed skyscraper project in Hollywood, setting the stage for a huge battle at City Hall over growth and seismic safety.The California Geological Survey on Thursday released its final map showing the estimated path of the Hollywood fault. It shows the fault line running under Millennium Hollywood, which would be the tallest and largest development in Hollywood history.
The state map shows a fault line south of the Capitol Records tower, an area that could serve as the site of one of the Millennium skyscrapers, according to conceptual sketches filed with the city.
“Our conclusion from the data is that there is an active fault, and it does run right along the course that’s right along the map,” state geologist John Parrish said.
The state's findings further complicate the future of the project, which has the backing of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and other elected city leaders.Developers want to build 35- and 39-story buildings that would add 1 million square feet of housing, hotel rooms, offices, restaurants and stores, transforming land littered with parking lots into a new urban hub full of workers and shoppers in a project that could be worth as much as $1 billion.
The developer’s consultant, Michael Reader, again asserted Thursday that his study shows no evidence of active faults underneath Millennium.
“We’re disappointed,” Reader said, adding that the state's conclusion is “in our opinion, incorrect.”
Because of the risk to public safety, California law generally bans new buildings on an active earthquake fault.
Houses sitting astride an earthquake fault have been split apart during the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and the Napa earthquake in August, rendering homes uninhabitable. In China and Taiwan, taller buildings on faults have been ripped apart, killing people inside when they collapsed, Parrish said.
It will ultimately be up to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety whether the project goes forward and permits can be issued to allow construction. The City Council voted last year to approve the Millennium project 13 to 0, but as concerns about seismic safety increased, Garcetti said he would rely on government experts to determine whether the city should issue permits to allow the skyscrapers to be built.
Millennium Hollywood has spent significant money on geotechnical studies after the state released a draft map in January, which showed the estimated path of the fault going underneath its property. After a trench was dug on an eastern section of the Millennium site, Reader appealed to the state to delete the Hollywood fault from that area on the map.
Instead, state officials moved the estimated fault line south, away from the trench but closer to where one of Millennium’s skyscrapers could be placed.
The state’s map now shifts the attention to city building officials, who judge whether a developer has proved a structure can be safely built away from an active fault.
The agency has several options: It could agree with the state’s conclusion and either ban construction or order a redesign that does not go over where the fault is. It could also order more study, or it could reject the state’s findings and allow construction to proceed.
Before it gets to that step, however, Millennium must submit its geology reports and apply for building permits from the city, which the developer has not done.
The city building department said it cannot make a conclusion until it reviews the data.
“If an active fault is found, physically, not just theoretically, they’re going to have to deal with it,” said Luke Zamperini, spokesman for the Los Angeles building department.
There were other shifts of the estimated path of the fault line. The new map removes a line that went through the former KFWB studio site at 6230 Yucca St., where a 16-story residential complex is planned just east of the Millennium complex.
City officials last week agreed with the Yucca developer's trench studies that no active fault is under the property.
A nearby commercial and residential development, known as Blvd6200, now has the fault’s estimated path skirting the northern edge of the development, instead of into the middle of it.
"We do not project the fault going underneath Blvd6200, but it certainly goes very close to it, through the backyard," Parrish said. "They presented some persuasive information that the fault really should be pushed up north. We agreed with them."
To the northeast, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church no longer has an estimated fault path line running through it. On the official state map, a question mark appears, indicating that the state has additional uncertainty about the fault’s location in that area.
The California Geological Survey’s completion of the Hollywood fault zone marks a new era of restrictions for development in this thin zone, stretching from the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood to Atwater Village. Future construction in the fault zone will generally require proof that buildings won’t be built on top of a fault. The zone is roughly 500 feet wide on either side of the fault’s estimated path.
State scientists assembled the map over the last year by analyzing existing geology reports, including from old soil samples and geological formations that indicate the fault’s location.
“We have placed, I think with a great deal of accuracy and information, where we thoroughly believe that the trace of an active fault exists throughout this whole area,” Parrish said.
The existence of the Hollywood fault, which could produce a magnitude 7 earthquake, has been known for many decades, but it is less prominent than others that have erupted in recent times, such as the Newport-Inglewood and San Andreas faults. The Hollywood and the neighboring Santa Monica fault were closely mapped by geologists in the 1990s.
Parrish has said it is prudent to ensure buildings are not built on top of faults, but that hasn't always been ordered by city building departments in fault areas that haven't yet been zoned by the state. In December, the Los Angeles Times reported that more than a dozen construction projects were approved on or near the Hollywood and Santa Monica faults in the last decade without requiring seismic studies to determine if the buildings could be on top of an earthquake fault.
Building records show that when Los Angeles approved these projects, officials used outdated information that placed the faults much farther away from the developments. Last year, The Times reported that L.A. officials admitted that they didn’t realize their error until Times reporters pointed it out to them, and since then have been using more updated information available from the state.
One reason for the problem was the state’s failure for many years to create fault zones for the neighborhoods around the Hollywood or Santa Monica faults, a legacy of steep budget cuts that began in the 1990s that virtually halted mapping of so-called Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zones, named after the lawmakers who wrote the law.
Gov. Jerry Brown subsequently proposed a sharp increase in the earthquake fault mapping budget, funded by increased building permit fees, and signed it into law this year.
About 2,000 miles of faults still need to be zoned -- in places such as Los Angeles' Westside, Orange County, Lake Tahoe, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The state Thursday also released final maps for the Sierra Madre and Duarte faults in the northern San Gabriel Valley.
The budget boost has allowed the California Geological Survey to begin mapping the Santa Monica fault, which curves through the Westside and the city of Santa Monica. More detailed mapping of the West Napa fault, which was responsible for the magnitude 6.0 quake in August, is also expected to begin.
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