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).
Salt Lake County and its cities follow the State of Utah construction codes adopted under Utah Code Title 15A, Chapter 2, Part 1 — the 2021 IBC, 2021 IRC, 2021 IEBC, and 2021 IECC, effective July 1, 2023. The Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District (which administers building permits for the unincorporated county plus several cities) assigns Seismic Design Category D2 for residential and D for commercial construction along the Wasatch Front, with site-specific ground-motion parameters required via the Applied Technology Council (ATC) hazard tool. New wood-frame multi-family structures must comply with IBC Chapter 16 (Structural Design) and IBC Section 2308/2309 wall bracing and continuous load-path requirements, which effectively prohibit the open-front 'soft-story' configurations built before the 1970s. For EXISTING soft-story apartments, retrofit is voluntary — Utah has no equivalent to California's Senate Bill 1953 or San Francisco/Los Angeles mandatory soft-story ordinances. Salt Lake City Council in 2021 considered a soft-story retrofit framework but did not adopt it; instead, the City prioritized URM single-family homes through 'Fix the Bricks.' Owners pursuing voluntary retrofit may use the 2021 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) Chapter A4 'Earthquake Hazard Reduction in Existing Wood-Frame Residential Buildings with Soft, Weak, or Open Front Walls' as the technical standard — adoption of IEBC Appendix A4 is at the discretion of each local jurisdiction. Engineering plans for any soft-story retrofit in unincorporated Salt Lake County must be sealed by a Utah-licensed structural engineer and reviewed by the GSL MSD Building Department.
There is no penalty for failing to voluntarily retrofit an existing soft-story building. However, ANY structural alteration, change of occupancy, or substantial repair (over 50% of replacement value) triggers IEBC compliance — and at that threshold the building department may require seismic upgrades for the altered portion. Performing structural work without a permit is a Class B misdemeanor under Utah Code §15A-1-209, plus double permit fees. Construction not meeting IBC seismic detailing requirements can be red-tagged and ordered demolished or rebuilt at owner cost.
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