Mountain View introduces 2025 building-code amendments including electrification and bird-safe design

Mountain View City Council on Aug. 26 introduced a package of ordinances to update the city's local building code to align with the 2025 California Building Standards Code (Title 24) and to add local "reach" provisions on electrification and bird-safe building design.

Assistant Community Development Director Lindsay Hagan led staff's presentation, telling the council the city was racing to submit local amendments to the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) before a state deadline. "We are attempting with council's approval, of course, to introduce new code provisions and submit them to, and receive acceptance by the California Building Standards Commission prior to the Sept. 30 due date," Hagan said.

Why it matters: state and regional actions this year compressed the schedule. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District adopted rules phasing out sales of high-NOx gas water heaters and furnaces (sales prohibitions by 2027 and 2029, respectively), and state legislation (AB 130, effective June 30, 2025) restricts local amendments that affect residential development for six years unless they meet statutory exceptions. Staff said those developments, together with the triennial 2025 code cycle, motivated the accelerated package.

Most important provisions - AC-to-heat-pump pathway (single-family and duplexes): The draft requires one of two compliance paths when replacing or adding space cooling: (1) install a heat-pump space conditioner that meets state code minimums; or (2) keep an AC and gas furnace but add energy-efficiency upgrades (for example, increased attic insulation,…