On Feb. 14, 2019, the Federal Court ordered the City of Portland to stop enforcing the URM Placarding Ordinances 189201 & 189309.
Read the Notice of a Temporary Injunction.
Read the Order of Temporary Injunction.
On Oct. 23, 2019, the Portland City Council repealed ordinances relating to the placarding and tenant notification requirements for unreinforced masonry buildings.
On October 10, 2018, City Council passed an ordinance that requires owners of unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings to place placards on their buildings and notify tenants of a URM building's status. You can find more information about this project here, including a GIS database of URMs. Check out our list of frequently asked questions here.
The purpose of the placards is to inform anyone entering the building that the building is a URM building and that URM buildings may be unsafe in the event of a major earthquake.
The deadlines for compliance are: January 1, 2019 for publicly-owned buildings; November 1, 2020 for URM buildings owned by non-profits; and March 1, 2019 for all other URM buildings.
For more information, contact Engineering Plan Review Supervisor Amit Kumar.