San Diego, CA Earthquake Safety: Soft-Story Retrofit (2026)

Unlike Los Angeles (which mandated soft-story retrofits in 2015), San Diego has not enacted a mandatory citywide soft-story retrofit ordinance as of 2025. However, the city has adopted the California Existing Building Code (2022 edition) including Appendix A: Guidelines for the Seismic Retrofit of Existing Buildings, which provides voluntary retrofit standards. Soft-story buildings (typically multi-story wood-frame structures with large openings on the ground floor for parking or commercial space) are at elevated risk during earthquakes. San Diego sits near the Rose Canyon Fault, which runs through the heart of the city and is capable of producing a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. The Development Services Department may require seismic evaluation and retrofit when: a substantial remodel permit is requested (work exceeding 50% of building value), a change of occupancy occurs, or structural damage is repaired. Common retrofit measures include adding steel moment frames, plywood sheathing on cripple walls, and foundation anchor bolts. Retrofit costs typically range from $10,000-$25,000 per unit for typical wood-frame apartment buildings.