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Two public safety building code requirements are being erased from Bill 65 currently under consideration by the Honolulu City Council.

, Bill 65 would adopt the State Building Code, with amendments, as the Honolulu Building Code.

The bill raises two building safety issues.

Issue No. 1: Tsunami Vertical Evacuation

The prior City and County of Honolulu building code (2020-2023) required tsunami design for all residential and commercial buildings having an occupied floor above 45 feet, equivalent to a roof height of 60 feet. Bill 65 would have set similar requirements, but for residential and commercial buildings with roof height over 90 feet, equivalent to a 10-story building.

This updated requirement would bring the building code into conformance with the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management policy of recommending vertical evacuation when horizontal evacuation to high ground is not possible. As shown in the figure from the DEM website, the recommendation is: “In case of a Tsunami Warning, move inland or go to the 4th floor or above in a building at least 10 stories or taller.”

This “vertical evacuation” policy has been in place for many years, particularly due to the difficulty with evacuating everyone from areas like Waikiki, Kakaako and downtown to high ground during a tsunami warning. Tsunami design requirements are now a part of the 2018 International Building Code, the basis for the Hawaii State Building Code, so it would be unethical, and expose the city and state to enormous liability, if they were to instruct evacuees to seek refuge in tall buildings during a tsunami warning, but do nothing to ensure that the buildings are designed not to collapse during severe tsunami events.

The City Council appears to be ready and willing to ignore tsunami safety and the city’s emergency procedures. In a full council hearing on Feb. 28, the nine council members voted unanimously in support of this tsunami design provision. However, in a City Council Zoning Committee hearing on May 22, as requested by the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii — which lobbies on behalf of developers — all six members of the committee reversed their opinions and voted to remove tsunami design for taller buildings even though they will still be used by the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management for vertical evacuation during tsunami warnings.

This would negate public safety during tsunami events in a major reversal of the prior Honolulu Building Code.

Since the Honolulu City and County Department of Emergency Management relies on vertical evacuation as part of its tsunami evacuation plan, the city should logically and ethically ensure that the design of new high-rise buildings will provide structural integrity during tsunami events. In engineering, safety does not happen by chance, it happens by explicit design.

The City Council wishfully thinking that Oahu will not have a major tsunami is not consistent with the engineering performed for all other natural hazards, such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Perhaps they think they don’t have to worry about it until after there is a damaging tsunami collapsing buildings and taking hundreds of lives.

Issue No. 2: Hurricane Windborne Debris Protection

During hurricanes, enormous amounts of debris are carried by the wind and act as projectiles impacting the exterior walls, roof, doors and windows of buildings. The 2018 International Building Code and International Residential Code require opening protection for all windows and doors on the exterior of all buildings in a hurricane windborne debris region.

Earlier editions of the IBC and IRC noted that all of Hawaii is a windborne debris region. During Hurricane Iniki, windborne debris was observed in areas of Kauai that were in the 130 mph design wind speed zone, well inland from the coastline. (See map and photo below.)

During a Zoning Committee hearing of Bill 65 on Feb. 7, the committee correctly decided to retain the long-standing building code requirement that any region of Oahu where the design wind speed exceeds 130 mph should be included in the windborne debris region. The Hawaii State Building Code is also based on 130 mph.

Because of the expense of providing window protection, the Hawaii Legislature funded the development of a Hawaii Residential Saferoom as an alternative to opening protection. This is now included in the Hawaii Building Code Appendix U.

Housing developers in Hawaii are currently complying with this requirement by providing residential saferooms, consistent with Appendix U, in new housing construction where the design wind speed exceeds 130 mph. Developer D.R. Horton estimates that addition of a saferoom costs between $5,000 and $7,500 per house, equivalent to the cost of granite countertops in the kitchen. This would enable occupants to remain safe in their homes during a hurricane. The added safety and peace-of-mind for the homeowner/occupants during future high wind events is priceless.

In the full council hearing on Feb. 28, the council voted unanimously in support of the windborne debris region as anywhere with design wind speed exceeding 130 mph. However, in the Zoning Committee hearing on May 22, as requested by the Building Industry Association of Hawaii — which is an affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders — all six members of the committee suddenly reversed their opinions and voted to change to a design wind speed of 140 mph.

This would make the weakened criteria unique to Oahu and contrary to the State Building Code.

The map of Oahu (below) shows how this would exempt most of the new housing construction along the south shore of Oahu (portions of Makakilo, Kapolei, Ewa, Royal Kunia, Waipahu, Mililani, Pearl City, Halawa Heights and Salt Lake) from windborne debris protection.

Gray regions in this map would no longer be required to provide opening protection or saferooms. Some of these gray regions are tiny or taper down to very narrow widths that will be confusing and unenforceable. These problems do not exist with a 130 mph design wind speed.

Why the apparent sudden change in City Council member opinions on these two items? Lobbying behind the scenes for months by developers and the Building Industry Association of Hawaii.

To avoid tsunami design of tall buildings and the possible strengthening that might be required, and the need to include saferooms or window protection in new residential construction, these parties are vehemently opposed to these two provisions in Bill 65.  Bill 65 CD2 will have these code provisions erased and tailored to the lobbyists’ demands.

Their lobbying was successful in this past Zoning Committee hearing but might not necessarily carry over to the final full council hearing on this bill.

If you are concerned that developer profits are being put ahead of public safety, then you should contact your city council member and insist that they reinstate tsunami design for taller buildings located in the tsunami design zone, and require saferooms or opening protection wherever the hurricane wind speed given in the code exceeds 130 mph.