Building Certification for Diamond Ranch Expected to Cost $300k

Thousands of school buildings statewide have not been certified under the latest California earthquake and safety standards according to state records, but officials say that certification may depend more on paper than bricks and mortar.

While state and district officials say there is no certain seismic danger for projects making either of two lists inspected as part of a , there are certain financial costs for adhering to state building regulations.

For Pomona Unified School District, acquiring building certification under the state's Field Act for the $28 million project is expected to cost the district $300,000, according to district officials.

According to the Department of the State Architect, the project file is missing "important documentation," but not necessarily any documents that would indicate a seismic concern. However, until that process is completed, any further construction at the school will not receive state approval.

The school district's director of business services, Nate Holt, who began overseeing facilities projects in January, said the district is currently pursuing certification for the Diamond Ranch project as well as a comprehensive seismic review of each of the district's 43 schools, six of which are in Diamond Bar.

The state first began regulating school architecture for seismic safety in 1933 with the Field Act, but data taken from the Division of the State Architect’s office shows 20,000 school projects statewide never got final safety certifications. In the crunch to get schools built within the last few decades, state architects have been lax on enforcement, California Watch reported.

A separate inventory completed nine years ago found 7,500 seismically risky school buildings in the state. Yet, California Watch reports that only two schools have been able to access a $200 million fund for upgrades.

This report details the information currently available on related school projects throughout the Pomona Unified School District. Another report at Diamond Bar Patch details projects in the Walnut Valley Unified School District.

AB 300 — Seismic Safety

An assessment of older concrete school buildings ordered by a 2002 state Assembly Bill, AB 300, listed the main building at and one 6,600 square foot building at  as possible seismic concerns, but Eric Lamoreaux, a spokesperson for the state architect, said that his department "never went out into the field to make that determination first-hand."

Based on drawings and plans, the state architect determined the Neil Armstrong building to be likely to perform well in an earthquake but listed the school building because of its age.

The 2002 list mostly identified buildings constructed prior to 1976 and, based on drawings and plans on hand at state offices, asked districts to provide the results of a seismic review.

Records updated in 2008 show a number of buildings at Pomona schools that were listed on the original AB 300 list that were updated with a status of "demolished," but no update was noted for buildings at Golden Springs or Neil Armstrong.

According to state records, the building identified at Golden Springs, which was constructed in 1967, was a building type the state said is not expected to perform well in an earthquake. However, district officials were not able to connect the state records acquired by California Watch to a specific building by press time.

Lamoreaux, with the state architect's office, cautioned about the connection between the AB 300 project list and school safety, saying that listed school projects were sometimes from plans that were 20 or 30 years old, and sometimes did not even exist any longer.

"We did not compare a building built in 1965 with more current records to see if we had any subsequent plans on file for that same project," Lamoreaux said, "so, we were not able to make a determination if a project from that facility had come forward subsequently."

The district's communications director, Tim McGillivray, said that even for districts inclined to perform seismic reviews at that time, the state provided no resources to do so.

Earlier this year, the district appropriated funds from a $235 million bond measure passed in 2008 to a district-wide assessment of seismic safety at all 43 sites.

"We are looking at this very seriously right now," Holt, said. "We're trying to focus on these thigns up front and not wait for the state."

Holt, who began overseeing district facilities in January, was not able to provide any further information about retrofits or upgrades to specific projects at Golden Springs or Neil Armstrong by press time as he was away from the office for a conference during the district's spring break.

Field Act Certification

A separate list maintained by the state identified projects that have not closed the certification process under the Field Act, which specifies building regulations for the state's schools.

In some cases, Lamoreaux said, uncertified projects are classified as "Letter 3," meaning that necessary paperwork is missing from a project file. In more serious cases, projects are classified as "Letter 4," where an inspector identified some change to plans that would raise a structural concern.

Only one project at Golden Springs — a $42,000 project completed in 1995 — was listed as a Letter 4 within the district's six Diamond Bar schools, according to state records. No further documentation was available by press time about this project.

Lamoreaux said that the district is likely to receive a letter from the state architect about this project, which would inform the district of state records that "indicate that there are one or more potential safety issues which were identified and left unresolved in the construction of the facility" in question.

District officials expect to have a comprehensive survey of school sites later this year.

Two additional projects at the Diamond Bar PUSD schools received a lesser classification of "Letter 3."

"Letter 3 has a significant number of final documentation reports that have not been submitted or they have fees that have not been paid that would allow us to close out that project," Lamoreaux said.

However, finishing the paperwork to certify a Letter 3 project can come with a large price tag. Closing certification for the $28 million construction of Diamond Ranch High School is expected to cost the district $300,000.

Lamoreaux said there is little incentive for districts to close out a Letter 3 project unless the district is seeking to build or add to the structure in question.

"At Diamond Ranch, we've not closed anything out and they're going to stop us from moving forward on those projects," Holt said.

Holt said, however, that the missing certification would not preclude the district from making upgrades regarding health and safety, like the addition of a new fire alarm system.

At this point, Holt said, the certification process could take two to three years to complete.

"You're talking about 50 boxes of documentation that need to get certification," Holt said.

Another project, at Neil Armstrong Elementary, completed in 2001, is uncertified as a Letter 3, but no further information about that specific project was available by press time.

Liquefaction

In addition to state records, the California Watch investigation identified school sites near seismic hazards, including fault lines and landslide and liquefaction zones.

Liquefaction zones were the most common hazard found near Pomona Unified schools, but Mt. San Antonio College geologist Hilary Lackey said liquefaction, which can turn soil or sediment to quicksand in the event of an earthquake, is a fact of life in Los Angeles County.

"If you buy a house (in L.A. County), it would be hard to find one that is not in a liquefaction zone," Lackey said.

Lackey said the soil, which is made up of fine sand and sediments from an ocean basin, will push together in an earthquake, causing the water contained in and between the rocks to bubble up.

In the event of an earthquake, Lackey said liquefaction can lead to foundation damage or buildings falling over.

The Diamond Bar Pomona Unified schools found to be within liquefaction zones are:

The Diamond Bar Pomona Unified schools found within a landslide zone are:

This story was produced using data provided to Patch by California Watch, the state's largest investigative reporting team and part of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Read more about  with California Watch.