CITY EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR GAS SHUTOFF VALVES TO BE INSTALLED.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council extended the deadline Tuesday for installing seismic gas shutoff valves, but rejected pleas from landlords to exempt them from having to install the devices in every apartment.

The apartment building owners complained that the new ordinance, combined with changes in The Gas Co. procedures, means they will have to spend thousands of dollars extra to install the valves on each unit instead of a single device regulating an entire building.

``What a disaster this is going to be - to put one of these meters per unit,'' said Trevor Grimm, a property owner and general counsel of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles. ``We need some time because if this goes into effect now, you're going to have people that are burdened.''

The council said it would pursue state legislation that could address some of the property owners' concerns rather than revise the city ordinance.

The state Public Utilities Commission last year gave The Gas Co. permission to withdraw from participating in the valve-shutoff program, meaning private installers will no longer have access to Gas Co. pipes. Instead, they will have to work on the pipes that are on the property owner's side of the meter.

According to installers, that means that instead of installing a single valve per building, they now have to install one valve per unit, and then enter every unit to relight pilot lights. A job that might have cost only $300 to $500 could now cost 10 times as much for a multiunit building, and those costs can be passed along to tenants even in rent-controlled buildings, according to property owners.

The council last year revised the gas valve ordinance so that the valves now have to be installed at the time a property closes escrow, instead of the previous requirement to have the work done within one year after escrow. Tuesday's action changed the effective date from last December to March 1, which makes the ordinance effective immediately.

Councilman Hal Bernson, the author of the ordinance, said the city will pursue state legislation to address the apartment owners' complaints, but in the meantime should not exempt building owners because public safety is at stake.

``We recognize all the concerns that the apartment owners have, but we also have to recognize the concerns of safety in our community,'' Bernson said. ``We are working with the PUC and with legislation. We hope to get that clarified in this next session of the state Legislature.''

The council vote was 10-3, with members Janice Hahn, Nate Holden and Dennis Zine dissenting.

The ordinance also removed language that made it the buyer's responsibility to install the valves, so that now it is a negotiable item. And it clarified that if a single unit is being remodeled or a single condo is sold, only that unit has to have the valve installed, not the entire building.