Scotts Valley council introduces 2024–25 California building codes, including new wildfire rules; measure advances unanimously

The Scotts Valley City Council unanimously moved to introduce an ordinance to adopt the 2024–25 California Building Standards, including the newly consolidated California Wildland Urban Interface Code (CWUIC), the council agreed at its regular meeting.

Nelson Alfaro, the city’s building official, told the council that “the mandatory effective date of the 2025 building standards is 01/01/2026,” and that the package brings updates across administrative, residential, electrical, plumbing, energy and wildland-interface standards published under the California Building Standards Commission.

The ordinance introduced—number 102.18—would amend Title 15, Chapter 15.04 of the Scotts Valley Municipal Code to adopt the state-published 2024–25 building standards and repeal an older local code section. The motion to introduce the ordinance passed unanimously; the item was advanced as the council’s first reading and will return for a future adoption vote.

Why it matters: The 2024–25 cycle consolidates wildfire-related requirements into the CWUIC and establishes statewide minimums for new construction located within state responsibility areas and very high…