August 18, 2025
San Rafael City Council
1400 5th Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901
RE: Building Code Ordinance Amendments
Honorable Mayor and Council Members,
Sustainable San Rafael appreciates the City's efforts to strengthen the Flexpath portions of the proposed State
Building Code to bring them into closer alignment with San Rafael's conditions and goals.
By updating scoring targets for evaluating the rehabilitation of homes built prior to 1992, the recommended San Rafael ordinance improves on the version adopted last year. The approach suggested by staff is an innovative response to recently enacted State constraints.
However, rather than zeroing out the currently required score for homes built between 1992 and 2010, we request that the City maintain a minimal score of 1 for those buildings.
Assuming that it satisfies State calculations, such a low score would at least keep in place the process by which building owners consider additional energy efficiency improvements from the wide menu of potential improvements offered.
We applaud the City's adoption of the portions of the new State code relating to new construction, which we understand will encourage significantly greater electrification and energy efficiency. It is also our understanding from the Staff Report that the portions of the new State code relating to EV
readiness closely match the City requirements being replaced.
Thank you for the Council's commitment to a more
sustainable community, and for recognizing the importance of building electrification in meeting our greenhouse gas goals and in maintaining the health of our residents.
Sincerely,
William Carney,
Vice President
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Annika Osborn, Co-President
Ben Snyder, Co-President
William Carney, Vice President
Miles Smith, Secretary
Greg Brockbank
Kay Karchevski
Kiki La Porta
Rina Lopez
Phil Muller
Marisa Nordstrom
Stuart Siegel
415.302.0110