Seismic Panel OKs Report on Northridge Earthquake : Safety: Document is approved mostly in concept, with many details to be worked out by staff. Final study won’t be ready until next month.

SACRAMENTO —  The state Seismic Safety Commission on Thursday adopted its overdue report to Gov. Pete Wilson on lessons learned from the Northridge earthquake. But that adoption was mainly in concept, and much of the report’s final wording remained to be determined.

Although the 17-member commission spent hours discussing issues on what future quake mitigation steps should be taken, it broadly revised a draft document and left much of the exact language to the staff. The final report will not be issued until next month.

“We’re adopting the document, subject to the editorial work we have to do,” said Commission Chairman Paul Fratessa, a structural engineer from Oakland.

Wilson had originally directed that the report be submitted Sept. 1. But a Wilson aide who attended part of the session, insurance adviser Marjorie Berte, said the governor’s office is more interested in having a quality report than one produced on time.

From the discussion Thursday, the commission seems unwilling to make many forceful recommendations, although it agreed to call for giving the state Building Standards Commission more authority to revise and implement earthquake construction standards.

The commission went no further than encouraging local government to undertake quake retrofitting of single-family homes after one of its members, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, said that to use stronger language would “open a can of worms” that would be “politically unpalatable.”

Commission members also avoided a hard-line on the matter of code revisions for new and existing buildings. They said local authorities should be given until 2000 to adopt retrofitting and additional hazard reduction plans and until 2020 to implement them. The commission’s role is strictly advisory, and it has no enforcement powers.

On the question of steel-framed buildings, a number of which cracked during the Northridge quake, the commission decided that firm recommendations were premature, because, as Bernson said, it is not yet known what effective corrective steps can be taken to guard against damage from future quakes.

One member who often pressed for stronger and more precise language was Caltech engineering professor Wilfred Iwan, a former chairman of the commission. Iwan said it was vital for the commission “to take the responsibility for building safety in California” and to develop a specified process that would achieve that end.

The commission meets next in Northridge on Jan. 12. Fratessa said no concepts will now be altered, but details may be changed.