3 rules for unincorporated Salt Lake County, Utah.
Verified from official government sources
Unlike California, neither Salt Lake County nor any Salt Lake County city (Salt Lake City, West Valley City, West Jordan, Sandy, Murray, South Jordan, Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Taylorsville, Riverton, Holladay, Herriman, Midvale, Magna) has adopted a mandatory soft-story seismic retrofit ordinance for existing multi-family wood-frame buildings. New construction is instead regulated by the 2021 International Building Code (IBC) and 2021 International Residential Code (IRC) as adopted statewide under Utah Code §15A-2-103, with Seismic Design Category D2 (residential) and D (commercial) along the Wasatch Front. Existing soft-story buildings (apartments over tuck-under parking or open storefronts) are addressed only voluntarily — primarily through education, FEMA grants, and the Salt Lake City 'Fix the Bricks' program (which focuses on URM houses, not soft-story apartments).
All new construction in Salt Lake County must comply with the 2021 International Residential Code (IRC) and 2021 International Building Code (IBC) anchor bolt and continuous load-path requirements as adopted under Utah Code §15A-2-103. The Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (GSL MSD), which serves unincorporated Salt Lake County, assigns Seismic Design Category D2 for residential and D for commercial — the second-highest seismic risk category — based on proximity to the Wasatch Fault. Wood-frame braced wall lines require 1/2-inch minimum anchor bolts at maximum 6 feet on center with 3-inch square plate washers, located within 12 inches of each end of every plate section. For EXISTING URM and pre-1975 wood-frame houses, retrofit is voluntary — primarily delivered through Salt Lake City's Fix the Bricks grant program, which funds roof-to-wall connections (not foundation anchoring of wood-frame houses) for income-qualifying URM homeowners.
Utah building codes have prohibited construction of NEW unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings since the 1970s, but an estimated 140,000+ existing URM structures remain along the Wasatch Front — many in Salt Lake City's historic neighborhoods (Avenues, Sugar House, Liberty Wells, Marmalade) and older portions of Murray, Midvale, and Magna. Neither Salt Lake County nor any of its cities has adopted a MANDATORY URM retrofit ordinance like California cities have for SROs or apartment buildings. The primary regulatory tool is Salt Lake City's voluntary 'Fix the Bricks' grant program, which provides up to 75% FEMA cost-share for life-safety retrofits (roof-to-wall anchors and chimney bracing) on owner-occupied URM houses built before 1975. Risk was confirmed by the March 18, 2020 Magna M5.7 earthquake which damaged multiple URM structures including the Salt Lake Temple's Angel Moroni statue. Geologic-hazard land-use regulation is provided by Salt Lake County Code Chapter 19.75 (Geologic Hazards Ordinance for Natural Hazard Areas).
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