DATE: November 3, 2025
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City Manager
Marlene Subhashini, Assistant City Manager
FROM: Sofia Mangalam, Community Development Director
Chuck Venook, Chief Building Official
Carisa Workman, Fire Marshal
Steve Arnold, 4Leaf Consultant
DEPARTMENT: Community Development
SUBJECT: BUILDING CODE UPDATES
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council take the following actions:
1. Introduce and pass to second reading the Ordinance (Attachment 1) amending Section
1.01.010, “Adoption-Secondary Codes Adopted,” of Chapter 1.01, “Code Adoption,” Within Title 1 of the Foster City Municipal Code adopting by reference certain parts, including related appendices, as identified in the 2025 California Building Code, 2025 Residential Code, 2025 California Mechanical Code, 2025 California Plumbing Code, 2025 California Electrical Code, 2025 California Fire Code, 2025 California Energy Code, 2025 California Green Building Standards Code, 2025 California Existing Building Code and the 2025 Wildland-Urban Interface Code within Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations; and finding the amendments exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(B)(3).
2. Introduce and pass to second reading the Ordinance (Attachment 2) repealing and replacing Chapters 15.02, “Building Code”; 15.04, “Residential Code”; 15.06, “Existing Building Code”; 15.08, “Mechanical Code; 15.16, “Plumbing Code”; 15.20, “Electrical Code”; 15.24, “Fire Code”, 15.46 “Electric Vehicle Charging Stations” within Title 15, “Buildings and Construction” of the Foster City Municipal Code and Adopting by Reference the 2025 California Building Code, 2025 California Residential Code, 2025
California Electrical Code, 2025 California Mechanical Code, 2025 California Plumbing Code, 2025 California Fire Code, 2025 California Existing Building Code with Appendices within Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations and making certain amendments thereto, including the addition of various penalties; and delegating enforcement authority for the California Fire Code to the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department, and finding the amendments exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3).
3. It is further recommended that the required public hearing be scheduled and noticed for November 17, 2025, and that the following said public hearing, the Ordinance be adopted.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The California Building Standards Law (Health & Safety Code §§ 18901-18949.31) creates a process for adopting statewide building standards, which are codified in Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations as the California Building Standards Code. The California Building Standards Commission (“CBSC”) is required to publish an edition of the California Building Standards Code every three years. (Health & Safety Code § 18942, subd. (a).)
Local governments are allowed to amend the building standards and regulations under Health & Safety Code Section 17922; however, the changes must be reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions, and specific findings need to be made and filed with the California Building Standards Commission. (See Health & Safety Code §§17958, 17958.5, 17958.7). Amendments to the model codes must be adopted by local jurisdictions and implemented within 6 months of the State model codes' publication.
The new 2025 State Code was released to cities in July and goes into effect on January 1, 2026. For 2025, staff recommends that all updates to Title 15 from 2022 be carried over to the 2025 code cycle, including Chapter 15.24 Fire code. Also, a new Part 7, ”California Wildland-Urban Interface Code“ (CWUIC), based on the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code, was created in the 2025 Building Standards Code by relocating chapters, sections and language from several parts of Title 24, including the California Building Code (Chapter 7A), California Residential Code (Section R337) and the California Fire Code (Chapter 49). Additionally, it incorporates other provisions from Title 24 (not relocated), and sections from Title 14 (Natural Resources) and Title 19 (Public Safety) of the California Code of regulations, and sections from the Government Code, the Health and Safety Code, and Public Resources Code.
Additionally, there are amendments to Chapter 15.46 Electric Vehicle Charging Station to comply with Assembly Bills (AB) 1236, 970 and Senate Bill (SB) 1418.
BACKGROUND/ANALYSIS
The CBSC has selected building codes, known as the California Building Standards Code (Title 24, California Code of Regulations) 1, which apply to most building construction in California. Local jurisdictions are required to enforce Title 24 for dwellings, apartments, condominiums, care homes, hotels, assembly buildings (with more than fifty occupants in a theater, auditorium, club, or meeting room), high-rise buildings, disabled accessibility, and energy regulations.
The California Health and Safety Code mandates that local jurisdictions shall adopt the California Building Standards Code for local enforcement within 180 days after Title24 of the California Code of Regulations is published. (Health and Safety Code § 18938(c)).
The 2025 California Building Standards Code will take effect on January 1, 2026.
A city may make local modifications to the Building Standards Code but only if it makes express findings for each modification that such is reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions. (Health and Safety Code §§ 17958 and 17958.7). In 2022, the City adopted updates to Title 15, adopting the various building standards with local amendments pertinent to Foster City because of the topographical conditions, such as prohibiting metallic piping, mechanical and electrical systems being buried or in contact with the ground due to the recognized corrosive nature of the soil and the probability of seismic events. For example, ground rods at lift stations (to ground lightning strikes) installed in the 1960s had deteriorated by the 1980s, requiring the electrical systems to be replaced. If the amendments from 2022 are not carried forward to the 2025 cycle, they will become null and void.
State Laws:
Assembly Bill (AB) 1236, passed in 2015, requires local jurisdictions with a population of less than 200,000 residents to adopt an ordinance establishing an expedited, streamlined ministerial permitting process for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS). The ordinance was to be adopted by September 30, 2017.
Subsequently, City adopted Ordinance 610, adding a new Chapter 15.46.
To strengthen the streamlining provisions of AB 1236, the State also adopted AB 970 in 2021. This bill established specific deadlines for local agencies to complete application completeness reviews and to approve or deny EVCS permits within defined timeframes.
On June 30, 2025, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 130, as part of California's budget package, which makes significant changes to the way cities adopt or amend the California Building Code Standards. It became effective immediately and essentially places a moratorium on the adoption or modification 1 Twelve parts include the (1) Administrative Code, (2) Building Code, (2.5) Residential Code, (3) Electrical Code, (4) Mechanical Code, (5) Plumbing Code, (6) Energy Code, (7) Wildland-Urban Interface Code, (8) Historical Building Code, (9) Fire Code, (10) Existing Building Code, (11) Green Building Standards Code, and (12) Referenced Standards Code.
of new state and local building standards affecting residential units. AB 130, among other changes, amends Health and Safety Code sections 17958 and 17958.5, 17958.7, and 18941.5 to prohibit a city or county from making changes or adopting more restrictions (e.g., Reach Codes) to the State Building Code Standards applicable to residential units from October 1, 2025, to June 1, 2031, unless one of the following conditions is met:
oThe changes or modifications are substantially equivalent to changes or modifications previously filed by the city/county and were in effect as of September 30, 2025;
oThe Commission deems the change or modification necessary as an emergency standard to protect health and safety;
oThe changes or modifications relate to home hardening; oThe building standards relate to home hardening and are proposed for adoption by a fire prevention district;
oThe changes or modifications are necessary to implement a local code amendment that is adopted to align with a general plan approved on or before June 10, 2025, and that permits mixed-fuel (i.e., electric and natural gas, etc.) residential construction consistent with federal law while also incentivizing all-electric construction as part of an adopted greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy; or
oWhere the changes or modifications are related to administrative practices, are proposed for adoption during the time between Building Code updates, and exclusively results in any of the following:
Reductions in time for a local agency to issue a post-entitlement permit;
Alterations to a local agency’s post-entitlement fee schedule; Modernization of, or adoption of, new permitting platforms and software utilized by the local agency;
Reductions in cost of internal operation for a local agency; or Establishment, alteration or removal of local programs related to enforcement of building code violations or complaints alleging building code violations.
Staff is proposing the following local amendments to the Building Standards:
Updates to Title 15 of the Foster City Municipal Code:
oAdopting the various building codes with amendments pertinent to Foster City because of the topographical conditions, such as prohibiting metallic piping, mechanical and electrical systems being buried or in contact with the ground due to the recognized corrosive nature of the soil and the probability of seismic events. These were adopted in 2022, and staff is carrying them over to 2025. Updates to FCMC Chapter 15.46 to comply with state law.
oUpdates to FCMC Chapter 15.24 by San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department (SMCFD), including the following.
As stated earlier, the State has adopted the California Wildland- Urban Interface Code or CWUIC as Title 24, Part 7 and deleted Chapter 49 from the California Fire Code. Amendments to Chapter
15.24 reflect this change. While Part 7 CWUIC is adopted by reference in the code amendments, the regulations won’t have an impact to the City of Foster City.
SMC Fire previously prohibited NFPA 13R sprinkler systems. This prohibition has now been removed to allow contractors to have greater flexibility in design.
oPreviously adopted language for the Board of Appeals in FCMC Sections
15.02.120, 15.04.110, 15.06.080, 15.08.080, 15.16.070 and 15.20.190, and approved by the City Council on September 15, 2025.
Staff has prepared the express findings for each modification, which is attached to the proposed ordinance. Additionally, there are findings in compliance with AB 130 that specify that the modifications are substantially equivalent to changes or modifications previously filed by the City and which were in effect as of September 30, 2025. Updates to Foster City Municipal Code Title 1:
Each time the codes and standards are amended, the General Provision of FCMC Title 1, Chapter 1.01, Subsection 1.01.010, must be amended to reflect the changes.
Pursuant to Government Code Section 50022.3, when an ordinance adopts another code by reference, the City Council must specify the public hearing date for the adoption of the ordinance.
Staff is recommending that the two (2) attached Ordinances making amendments to Title 1 and Title 15 of the Foster City Municipal Code be introduced by the City Council on November 3, 2025, and the Public Hearing be held on November 17, 2025. At the conclusion of the public hearing, it is recommended that the ordinance be adopted. The proposed Ordinances also make findings to support the amendments to the California Codes based on local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions.
If adopted, the City will need to file the ordinance and findings to support the local amendments with the California Building Standards Commission. (Health and Safety Code 179858.7). Additionally, the ordinance would not take effect until January 1, 2026, consistent with the effective date of the 2025 California Building Code Standards.
California Environmental Quality Act
The adoption of the ordinances and fees are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), in that the adoption of State codes and the local amendments and the adoption of the fees herein described do not have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment, pursuant to Sections 15061(b) (3) and 15378(b) (5) of the CEQA Guidelines (Title 14, Chapter 3 of the California Code of Regulations) as they are administrative in nature.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact with the introduction and adoption of the ordinances.
CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA
Smart Planning, Development, and the Local Economy
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1 – Ordinance for Title 1
Attachment 2 – Ordinance for Title 15