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Saint Helena council adopts 2025 California building standards; debates wildfire access and directs staff to seek exceptions
Summary
The Saint Helena City Council unanimously adopted the 2025 California Building Standards and local amendments while expressing concern about state limits on local fire-access rules and voting to authorize a staffing reclassification and several routine items.
The Saint Helena City Council unanimously voted to adopt the 2025 California Building Standards (state triannual code) and local amendments after a lengthy discussion about state-mandated energy requirements and local fire-access language.
Jim McCann, acting community development director, and Philip Henry, the city’s chief building official, explained that the California Energy Code includes tighter energy metrics and effectively requires heat pumps and solar panels in many new buildings. "As of January 1, by state law, the 2025 building codes went into effect," Henry said, adding that the energy code "has pretty much mandated heat pumps,…
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