The City of Palm Springs moved forward Dec. 10 with an urgency ordinance adopting the 2025 California building and related codes (including the California fire, mechanical, plumbing and energy codes) with local amendments. The ordinance had a public reading as an urgency measure and the council took the first formal reading of the standard adopting ordinance.

Fire Chief Paul Alvarado said one local amendment aligns city standards with recommendations from the department’s strategic study: changing the practical first‑response travel‑time target from 4 minutes to 5 minutes where 4 minutes is not feasible given geography and current stationing. He said the department currently attains the 5‑minute target roughly 80–86% of the time and expects improvements as station upgrades and a planned Fire Station 6 are completed.

Fire Marshal Taylor Tipple described a new compliance engine that automates delivery and tracking of required tests and inspections for fire protection systems (sprinklers, alarms, hood systems, extinguishers). Under the new approach certified contractors upload inspection reports to a portal; the third‑party vendor charges a nominal per‑upload fee (not a city fee) that the contractor pays when submitting the report. Tipple said the system will streamline staff effort, automate reminders, and flag delinquencies for enforcement by the city.

Council discussion focused on ensuring the ordinance language correctly reflects local travel‑time maps and the definition of fire‑severity zones (the state recently reclassified Palm Springs’ wildfire severity from very high to moderate in 2025). Council also asked staff to clarify the contractor fee mechanics and the city’s enforcement path for delinquent reports.

Next steps: the urgency ordinance was read and the council scheduled the required follow‑up reading and final adoption. Staff will finalize the minor corrections to definitions and the 5‑minute travel‑time map posted online and proceed with the compliance engine roll‑out.