Ordinance committee recommends adopting 2025 California building and fire codes with local amendments

The Santa Barbara City Ordinance Committee voted unanimously Oct. 1 to recommend that City Council adopt the 2025 California Building Standards Code (Title 24) and the 2025 fire code, including certain appendices and local amendments, and to repeal Santa Barbara ordinances 6093 and 6094.

City Chief Building Official Tina Dye and Fire Marshal/Battalion Chief Ryan DeGiglio presented the triennial code update, explaining that state building standards are on a three-year cycle and that the 2025 codes take effect Jan. 1, 2026. Dye told the committee, “The state codes are on a 3 year cycle with public hearing with a public hearing process including input from local stakeholders, state agencies, local fire and building officials, and the general public.” She said local adoption is mandatory for compliance and that no local ordinance is required if a jurisdiction makes no local amendments.

The recommendation to send an ordinance to City Council reflects several staff proposals: adopt by reference the 2025 California building and fire codes (parts 1–12), readopt previously adopted local amendments in chapters addressing structural and fire-life-safety provisions, add the standalone 2025 Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) code provisions into the local adoption package, and make mostly administrative language updates. Dye said staff posted outreach materials on the city website, provided flyers…