Pure Cordwood rejected

I was hoping to build the house with cordwood walls.  It has some of the beauty and low embodied energy of traditional log homes, but it's easier to build, better insulated, and way cheaper.  The walls look like a stack of firewood, with the ends visible.

The logs are held together with a matrix of mortar. The mortar doesn't go all the way through. It's 3" - 4" wide on each side, and in between is insulation, like sawdust.

The building department says this kind of construction isn't safe in this area, due to earthquakes. All the cordwood experts agree.  So now we've modified plans to do timber-framed construction with a corwood infill.

Hopefully we can use the wood we cut from our own property, but it will take a while to season. Also, there may be issues with grading the wood.  We'll see.