Martinez works on being retrofit ready after Napa quake

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KGO) -- After the Napa quake, the mayor of Martinez released a public list of the buildings out of compliance and the exposure seems to have worked.

"I think the only way to truly retrofit these brick buildings is to remove them completely," said business owner Mark Shoemaker.

Mark Shoemaker owns a building in downtown Martinez, and the store in it, Lights of Diablo. The early 20th century brick building is one that needs to be retrofitted by next year. He's working on it, but also worries the added expense, hundreds of thousands of dollars, may not provide the desired result.

"Retrofitting it will probably keep the roof from coming down. But as you saw in Napa the buildings that were retrofitted, we probably wouldn't want to be standing here, because what it does is keep the roof on and the bricks come down," said Shoemaker.

"It's a substantial cost to property owners, but we have a moral obligation," said Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder.

Mayor Schroder saw what happened in downtown Napa after last month's quake. In the days after he made public a list of nine building addresses and their owners that were not moving toward retrofit compliance. They include structures that currently house stores and restaurants, and others that are unoccupied and or for sale.

"We were getting ready to enforce our earthquake retrofit laws. It's just that the earthquake caught us a little bit early just by a couple of days. It was a wake up call and since then, all but one building owner of those nine that were not in compliance have moved toward compliance," said Schroder.

Building owners still have time to get the construction work done. The deadline to complete the actual retrofit is August 15, 2015.