DATE: November 17, 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
DEPARTMENT: Community Development
SUBJECT: BUILDING CODE UPDATES
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council open the public hearing and adopt the following:
1. 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. 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).
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 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 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). The new Part 7 also 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 California Building Standards Commission 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 Title-24 24 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. In June 2025, AB 130 was signed into law placing a moratorium on the adoption or modification of new state and local building standards affecting residential units. Thus, staff is not proposing any local amendments to building standards except for the following (see Attachment 1 for details):
Updates to Title 15:
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. If the amendments from 2022 are not carried forward to the 2025 cycle, they will become null and void. Updates to Chapter 15.46 to comply with state law.
oUpdates to Chapter 15.24 by San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department (SMCFD), including.
As Stated earlier that the State has adopted the California Wildland- Urban Interface Code as Title 24, Part 7 and deleted Chapter 49 from the California Fire Code. Amendments to Chapter 17.24 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 sections
15.02.120, 15.04.110, 15.06.080, 15.08.080, 15.16.070 and 15.20.190 by the City Council on September 15, 2025.
The proposed Ordinances also make findings to support the amendments to the California Codes based on local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions. There 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.
are also findings in the proposed Ordinance, 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 Title 1:
Each time the codes and standards are amended, the General Provision of 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.
Since the City is adopting by reference certain sections of the CBC, Residential Code, Existing Building Code, Mechanical Code, Plumbing Code, and Electrical Code, the City must follow the process specified in Government Code section 50022.3, including publishing notice of the hearing for the second reading of the ordinance in accordance with Government Code Section 6066 (Published once a week for two consecutive weeks, at least five days apart).
Per the requirement, notice of the meeting was published in the Foster City Islander on November 5 and 12, 2025. Staff is recommending that the City Council open this public hearing and adopt the attached Ordinances.
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 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