(1) Adopt Urgency Ordinance No. 267 - An Urgency Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Canyon Lake, California, Adopting by Reference the 2025 California Building Standards Code (Title 24, California Code of Regulations), Including the 2025 California Fire Code, with Local Amendments; Repealing Conflicting Ordinances; and Declaring the Urgency Thereof.” by at least a four-fifths vote of the City Council; and (2) introduce and read by title only Ordinance No. 268 - An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Canyon Lake, California Adopting by Reference the 2025 California Building Standards Code (Title 24, California Code of Regulations) with Local Amendments and Repealing Conflicting Ordinances.

Every three years, the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) adopts a new edition of the California Building Standards Code (the “Code” or “Title 24, CCR”). The 2025 edition has been published to take effect statewide on January 1, 2026. To maintain seamless enforcement and align the Canyon Lake Municipal Code (CLMC) with current State standards, staff prepared two coordinated ordinances: (1) an Urgency Ordinance that becomes effective immediately upon a 4/5ths vote, and (2) a companion regular (non-urgency) ordinance that follows the standard two-reading process and becomes effective 30 days after adoption. Taking both actions ensures there is no gap in enforceability across the year-end transition and that the City’s codified provisions reflect the 2025 Code moving forward.

State Adoption Cycle and City Authority

Title 24 is the State’s minimum building standard. Cities must enforce it and may adopt reasonable local amendments where climatic, geological, or topographical conditions justify departures from the State text. Adoption “by reference” is expressly authorized for the uniform codes. The proposed ordinances satisfy these requirements by (a) adopting the full 2025 California Building Standards Code (Title 24) and expressly including the 2025 California Fire Code, and (b) incorporating Canyon Lake’s local amendments supported by written findings tied to local conditions.

Need for Urgency Adoption

Government Code § 36937(b) permits an urgency ordinance for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, or safety. The City’s building and fire regulations are a core life-safety program; without an effective update by January 1, 2026, the City could experience: (i) enforcement uncertainty at the turn of the year for plan checks and permits spanning December–January; (ii) delays in applying updated life-safety provisions (e.g., structural, fire and WUI, egress, energy systems, and critical equipment requirements); and (iii) administrative inefficiencies for builders and staff navigating two different standards. Adopting the Urgency Ordinance now ensures continuous, up-to-date standards apply to all applications and inspections and provides clear notice to applicants as of January 1, 2026.

Local Amendments and Findings

The Fire Chief and Deputy Building Official have reviewed the 2025 Code and identified targeted local amendments based on Canyon Lake’s local climatic, geological, and topographical conditions,

CEQA

Adoption of State-mandated building standards with limited, health-and-safety local amendments does not result in a reasonably foreseeable physical change in the environment and is therefore not a project under CEQA Guidelines § 15061(b)(3). Any future, site-specific development remains subject to project-level CEQA review, as applicable.

Implementation and Timing

If adopted on November 12, 2025, the Urgency Ordinance is effective January 1, 2026 and will govern permit intake, plan check, and inspections as of that date. Introducing the regular ordinance on November 12 and setting second reading for December 10, 2025 positions it to take effect 30 days after adoption, thereby superseding the urgency version and providing the City’s permanent, codified update. Following adoption, staff will (1) file local-conditions findings with the CBSC; (2) update the CLMC; (3) publish/post the ordinance(s) as required; and (4) issue applicant bulletins clarifying effective dates and submittal cut-offs.

Fiscal Impact

No General Fund appropriation is required. 

Alternatives

The Council could decline to adopt the urgency ordinance and proceed only with the regular ordinance; however, that approach risks a temporal enforcement gap at the new year and inconsistent application of the 2025 Code to pending permits. Staff therefore recommends the paired urgency/regular approach described above.