Napa city officials this week sent out warning shots to owners of older brick buildings that they are growing impatient with failures to respond to a two-year-old law requiring earthquake safety improvements in the structures.

City of Napa Chief Building Inspector Steve Jensen on Tuesday reported progress under the law, with the city’s list of unsafe buildings dropping from 24 to 10 in the last two years, and with all of the risky buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places on their way toward seismic repairs.

But with a June 1 deadline for engineering studies already past, city council members urged Jensen to send a strongly-worded third letter to the owners of the remaining buildings that they must come into compliance with the law. The law requires that work be completed by June 2009.

Napa Mayor Jill Techel noted that the measure passed in April 2006 gave the owners “a generous amount of time” to do engineering studies and begin repairs.

Councilman Peter Mott said he found it “just ludicrous” that some owners had not even begun engineering studies of some buildings, despite the fact that the city set aside money to pay for those studies.

Seismic work has been completed in two buildings since the law passed: The city-owned Borreo building overlooking the Napa River from the northeast corner of Third Street and Soscol Avenue, and the Brown building on First, currently home to the leasing office for the Westin Verasa hotel.

As for the landmark Gordon Building on First Street, it turns out the building is not made of unreinforced brick after all. Owner George Altamura Jr. showed the city original drawings that reveal the building was constructed with steel supports, according to Jensen.

Jensen said he has spoken with owners of all the buildings on the city’s list but one. He said he has had no contact with the owners of the Old Adobe at Soscol Avenue and Silverado Trail.

‘Much progress’

The city passed the law out of concern for earthquake safety. St. Helena is among the cities that has successfully upgraded older buildings and seen economic rewards, while unreinforced masonry buildings in the historic part of Paso Robles crumbled in a strong December 2003 quake.

When the Napa law was enacted, owners of the buildings expressed concern that seismic repairs would be costly. Business owners who rent space in the buildings worried that repair costs would be passed on to them.

Yet owners have done work or initiated studies on most of the 24 buildings in the past two years, according to Jensen.

“We’ve seen much progress in the downtown area in the last few years,” said Jensen, who noted that owners of several buildings are talking to each other about retrofit plans.

Jensen’s report states that, in addition to the two completed buildings, eight were removed from the city’s hit list because owners submitted engineering reports confirming the buildings had been reinforced. These included the building that houses Henry’s Lounge on Main Street, Napa Valley Traditions and Taqueria Rosita on Main Street, Uva Restaurant and the Gordon Building.

Architectural plans have been submitted or work has begun at four buildings, including Downtown Joe’s and Fagiani’s Bar.

Buildings still on the wrong side of the list include the Merrill’s building and three rundown buildings on the 800 block of Brown Street, one of which is to be demolished.