Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Tulare County adopts state-mandated fire-hazard severity zoning for local responsibility areas
Summary
The board approved an ordinance to add Chapter 33, Part 7 to the Tulare County ordinance code to adopt CaliforniaState Fire Marshal severity zones for the Local Responsibility Area (LRA); staff warned of increased permit and inspection workload and called it an unfunded state mandate.
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors on June 3 approved the county's ordinance adoption process to add Chapter 33, Part 7 to the Tulare County Ordinance Code, implementing state-mapped fire-hazard severity zones for Local Responsibility Areas (LRA) within the county.
Tulare County Fire Department staff told the board the state map assigns "moderate, high and very high" fire-hazard severity categories to parcels within the county's LRA. The board approved the ordinance amendment by a 4—or, 0 gainst vote, with Supervisor Dennis Townsend not voting because he was not in attendance.
Why it matters
The adoption brings new defensible-space obligations, building and access requirements, and plan-check and inspection rules to areas of the county that previously did not have LRA severity designations. Staff said these changes will affect new construction, plan-review time, and…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
