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Encinitas council introduces 2025 building-code ordinances, moves to preserve local reach codes ahead of state moratorium
Summary
The Encinitas City Council voted unanimously to introduce two ordinances to adopt the 2025 California Building Standards Code with local amendments — including energy and green building "reach codes" — and to preserve existing local amendments ahead of an October state-imposed moratorium under AB130.
The Encinitas City Council on Tuesday introduced two ordinances to adopt the 2025 California Building Standards Code with certain local amendments aimed at building safety, fire prevention, energy efficiency and green building.
City sustainability analyst Ryan Lampkin told the council the statewide Title 24 code must be adopted locally by Jan. 1, 2026, and that recent state legislation (Assembly Bill 130) will impose a six-year moratorium on many local code amendments starting Oct. 1, 2025. "The 2025 California standards building code is required to be adopted by 01/01/2026," Lampkin said during the staff presentation.
The local amendments the city is proposing include administrative clarifications to the building code; additional fire-safety requirements and residential home-hardening measures in the fire code; energy measures that would make new single-family homes electric-ready and require certain remodels to add energy-efficiency measures; and green-building measures such as pre-plumbing for graywater and EV readiness for new single-family homes, plus EV charging requirements for nonresidential remodels.
Nut graf: The council moved to introduce the ordinances now to protect the city’s existing local reach codes and to secure energy- and climate-related measures before AB130’s moratorium takes effect. Staff said local reach codes commonly advance the city’s Climate Action Plan and that some reach code measures must be demonstrated to be cost-effective before adoption.
Lampkin reviewed the history of the city’s recent code adoptions: Encinitas adopted the 2022 codes with local amendments in 2022, and staff recommended readopting existing local amendments this year so they are preserved in the event AB130 limits future local changes. Councilmember comments acknowledged the compressed schedule created by the state law; one council member told the public the council could revisit any provision later if circumstances changed.
Council members voted to introduce the two ordinances; the motion carried unanimously with Deputy Mayor Lyons absent. The introduction schedules the ordinances for a second reading and final action at a later meeting.
Background and next steps: Staff said cost-effectiveness studies remain outstanding for some proposed reach-code measures; the city expects those studies to be complete by the end of the calendar year and indicated it may add additional measures later if they meet the statutory tests. Because AB130 creates legal uncertainty around some adoption pathways, staff advised the council that local amendments adopted under the law could be rescinded later and that readoption before Oct. 1, 2025, would better protect existing local rules.
Ending: The council’s vote tonight sends the ordinances to a future meeting for second reading and final adoption. Councilmembers and staff said they expect continued public outreach and additional hearings as the city completes required cost-effectiveness work and refines the proposed local amendments.
