LV has scrapped some structural inspections

Unlike Clark County and nearby cities, the Las Vegas Department of Building and Safety is relying on the word of the architects and engineers submitting plans that their buildings meet specifications and will not collapse from gravity, high wind or seismic activity. The move, detailed in an April 11 city document, puts those larger structures in the same category as carports, gazebos and balconies.

The new guidelines were issued in the midst of the Las Vegas building department’s elimination of 31 positions because of the construction slowdown. The city has laid off four of its five structural plan reviewers.

City officials said the layoffs were necessary because the department, which was designed to be self-supporting from inspection and other fees, was running at a deficit which would amount to $5.7 million through the end of this year. The reductions cut that deficit more than $4 million to about $1.5 million, city spokesman Jace Radke said.

Some people, including Scott Canepa, a local attorney who has litigated some of the valley’s biggest home defect cases, believes the city’s cost-cutting move could create more problems for local residents. He suggested eliminating the reviews would lead to more litigation over construction defects.

"I don’t know how on Earth they could exclude single-family dwellings from (structural) plans checks," he said. "Basically, there have been a slew of problems."

Homeowners, already cash-strapped, often have insurance policies that don’t cover structural defects that aren’t life-threatening safety hazards.

"Certainly, it could lead to significant property damage and even personal injury," he said.

Local resident Gary Wright, who brought the new procedure to the newspaper’s attention, is also outraged by the city’s decision.

"If it’s any type of structure that could fall or collapse or fail, if the potential is there for pain or loss of life, then it ought to be reviewed," said Wright, a former Las Vegas building inspector and plans examiner. He left the city on a medical retirement in 2006, and is involved in legal actions regarding both his former employment and the city’s environmental practices.

The city, however, discounts those concerns.

Radke said the city believes the staff structural reviews of the affected buildings were unnecessary, since state law simply requires a registered engineer to review the plans.

"The Las Vegas Building and Safety Department has reduced the number of structural reviews it conducts on certain projects, including but not limited to, patio covers, trash enclosures, fence walls and big box buildings," he said in a statement. Plans for the newly exempted projects, he added, "are already approved by Nevada registered engineers and the city was duplicating efforts by essentially having a city engineer review a project that another qualified engineer had already endorsed."

The city will audit the structural plans periodically, to monitor compliance, he added.

Structural plan reviews also will still be required on high-rise projects, "unusual jobs" — such as the iconoclastic downtown building that renowned architect Frank Gehry has designed for the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute — and "political jobs," meaning construction in which the city itself is the owner or a principal player, according to the same document.

Las Vegas, however, is alone among large U.S. cities in its decision to not review structural plans for multi-story or large warehouse-style buildings, according to Ronald Hamburger, a San Francisco structural engineer with a national profile.

"The common view among structural engineers in the (American) West is that competent plan checks by an appropriately qualified plan checker is absolutely necessary to protect the public safety," particularly in zones prone to earthquake, he said.

Indianapolis, with a metropolitan population of approximately 1 million, has spent the past three years discarding a system that relied on private architects and engineers to verify that their building designs complied with safety codes.

It decided to drop that system to reduce the threat of higher property insurance rates, which are partly based on the risk posed by buildings that go up without an independent check of the design’s safety, said Rick Powers, the top building official for Indianapolis’ combined city-county government.

Jim Wadhams, a Las Vegas lobbyist for the insurance industry, doesn’t believe Las Vegas’ new procedures will lead to higher insurance rates here, though.

Wadhams agrees that the city’s structural reviews were duplicating other safety checks, and thinks other government agencies should follow the lead of Las Vegas.

Other local entities don’t appear ready to follow the city’s example though.

One official at the city of Henderson’s Building and Fire Safety Department disagrees with Las Vegas’ decision, arguing that it is important to have city engineers review structural plans.

"As part of our internal building code, we have certain provisions we have to enforce," said Majid Pakniat, the manager of plans examination for Henderson. "Just because it is designed outside by an architect or engineer isn’t enough."

Ron Lynn, the director of development services for the county, said he would not consider relying entirely on the discretion of the builders’ engineers and architects for structures of that size and importance.

"When we review it, we are hoping to catch crucial components they missed," he said.

Structural reviewers look for the type of load a building can withstand. Buildings need to be designed to withstand earthquakes, winds, floods and the forces of gravity well enough for inhabitants to be able to evacuate safely, even when the building is damaged beyond repair, he said.

"Even if 15 percent of the structures are unsafe, I can’t have that," Lynn said. "What if there was an earthquake?"

Records of past structural plan reviews show that errors crop up even for building types that are now exempt from the reviews.

In early 2004, for example, a Wal-Mart Neighborhood market at 10440 W. Cheyenne Blvd., underwent at least five structural reviews before passage.

The city might have been better off looking at alternatives to dropping those types of structural reviews altogether, some said.

"If I didn’t have the staff, I’d outsource," Lynn said.

The change has found support from some involving in the building industry.

Developer John McHale of McHale Consulting said he saw "very little downside" to the revamped Las Vegas process. "Everybody realizes, if there’s a ‘push’ by business owners or builders to do it cheaper, there’s always ‘push back’ from the structural engineers and architects to keep safety margins intact."

Contact reporter Valerie Miller at vmiller@ lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5286, and reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely@review journal.com or 702-383-0268.