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Rancho Santa Margarita adopts 2025 California Building Standards Code with local amendments
Summary
The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council unanimously adopted two ordinances to incorporate the 2025 California Building Standards Code (including the new Wildland-Urban Interface code) into the city’s municipal code, with local amendments and OCFA-recommended fire-code changes; the codes become effective 01/01/2026 by state rule.
The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted two ordinances that incorporate the 2025 California Building Standards Code into the city’s municipal code and apply several local amendments, including fire-code provisions recommended by the Orange County Fire Authority.
City staff presented the ordinances during a public hearing and recommended the council conduct a second reading and adopt the measures. Planning and building staff said the 2025 edition of the California Building Standards Code contains 13 separate parts and introduces a stand-alone Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) code that had previously been part of chapter 7A of the building code. "The 2025 edition ... contains 13 separate parts," staff stated in explaining the scope of the update. Staff noted many of the city’s proposed local amendments are carryovers from the prior code cycle and that the recommended fire-code amendments were provided by OCFA.
State law requires the California Building Standards Commission to adopt and publish the triennial code and the codes take effect statewide on Jan. 1, 2026; jurisdictions adopt the codes locally to register city-specific amendments. The city’s staff report and attachments include a color-coded table from OCFA that lists the recommended fire-code amendments and shows the renumbering tied to the new WUI part.
No members of the public spoke during the hearing. Mayor Pro Tem moved to adopt ordinance No. 25-05 and ordinance No. 25-06 as recommended by staff; the motion was seconded and carried on a unanimous vote. The ordinances amend Title 10 of the Rancho Santa Margarita Municipal Code to adopt the 2025 California Building Standards Code and related local amendments (including local fire-code edits noted in the staff attachments).
What happens next: because the statewide code cycle takes effect on Jan. 1, 2026, the city’s adoption aligns local amendments with the statewide changes and preserves the city’s previously adopted local standards where permitted by state law. The council’s formal adoption completes the local process for this code cycle.
