shear walls too long

huangyhg

shear walls too long?
i was surprised recently to receive this comment in a review letter. it was not listed with the 9 items for correction, but in a summary paragraph at the end. here it is, verbatim:
"there are a couple of walls 20'+/- that do not meet aspect ratio along with several of the 10' walls."
i am well familiar with 2:1 max ratio, but what is he talking about here? the longest wall is 10' high and 26 feet long. (it separates two unique family dwellings.)
code: cbc 2001 (modified ubc 97).  
any idea what is referenced here?  

any help? i read through chapter 23 last night... no help. could he be concerned about differences in distribution of load due to deflection?
are there any doors or windows in these walls that could alter the aspect ratio?  and by the way, you can go 3.5:1 on the ratio.
mike mccann
mmc engineering
in the long walls questioned, there are no openings. the 26' long wall is a 2-hour fire wall. i don't want to open it.... the wall is already built.
this review came after a revision. i'm not sure why the question was not asked of the previous design team.
i know about the max ratio of 3.5:1 (2:1 on this project in eq zone 4), but is there a limit at the other end?
it doesn't make sense to me... i've designed long wall sections before... but they did have windows!
i'm calling him... i just wanted to know what section it came from before i called so i could have a solution - and not look uninformed!
perhaps the reviewer is a little slow, and assumed that the aspect ratio applies in either direction? (i.e. l/h as well as (h/l)
nevermind...
i called. he was referring to vertical wall sections, not horizontal sections. because he had already mentioned the vertical issue in a comment above, i misread his intention.
anyhow... it was a nice review of chapter 23.