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Page 5 of 11 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />Purpose of Recent Legislation: Board Members concurred with the underlying purpose of the State <br />mandated “freeze” on Residential Building Codes through June 30, 2031, and the legislation’s <br />emphasis on preventing extra regulation to reduce barriers to housing production. <br />Prohibitive Cost to Homeowners: Board members, including a former Building Official and an <br />electrician, strongly argued that mandatory electrification makes remodels “cost prohibitive.” They <br />provided real-world examples of main panel upgrades costing between $4k and $8k, a figure that does <br />not include the cost of running new lines or repairing walls, siding, and roofs. They concluded this can <br />place an “undue burden” on residents. <br />High Costs Deter Permits and Reduce Safety: Board Members noted that additional, and sometimes <br />excessive, costs would have the unintended consequence of making the community less safe. The <br />Board feared homeowners would be deterred from obtaining permits to avoid the mandated costs, <br />leading them to either abandon safety-improving projects altogether or perform illegal, uninspected <br />work, which is a major “red flag” for community safety. <br />Unreliable Grid and Lack of Confidence in PG&E: There was a profound lack of confidence in forcing a <br />total reliance on electricity. A board member called the state’s push to eliminate natural gas “very <br />short-sighted,” referencing the Texas power crisis as a dangerous example of what happens when a <br />grid fails. He expressed deep skepticism in PG&E’s ability to provide reliable power, describing their <br />service for even simple projects as ”deplorable.” <br />The 2025 Building Code and Redwood City Climate Action Goals <br />The State’s 2025 California Building Standards Code, including the Green Building Standards Code <br />(CALGreen), takes effect January 1, 2026. Due to new state law (Health and Safety Code § 17958(b)), cities <br />cannot adopt most new local amendments or “Reach Codes” applicable to residential construction from <br />October 1, 2025, to June 1, 2031. Reach Codes were previously adopted as local amendments to CALGreen <br />in 2022, but the City will be replacing the 2022 code with the updated 2025 Building Code and repealing <br />those 2022 Reach Codes. A 2023 decision by the Ninth Circuit (California Restaurant Association v. City of <br />Berkeley) held that Berkeley’s similar Reach Code banning natural gas was preempted by the federal <br />Energy Policy and Conservation Act. In part, the repeal is necessary given court rulings regarding similar <br />reach code programs and also a result of the 2025 Energy Code which are projected to provide equal or <br />greater overall efficacy in reaching both the State and local climate action goals. <br />Accordingly, the City’s existing Reach Codes, which also require all-electric construction, are proposed to <br />be repealed. Staff notes that the neighboring cities of Belmont, Burlingame, Millbrae, San Bruno, San <br />Carlos, and South San Francisco are similarly not adopting new all-electric residential Reach Codes. The <br />City of Menlo Park has adopted a new Reach Code under their current 2022 Building Code, while they <br />seek to complete a cost effectiveness study to justify the code. Other cities, like the City of San Mateo, <br />have indicated that they will further study this matter. Staff recommend that we further monitor this <br />evolving field of work to determine if further work is cost effective and necessary to achieve the City’s <br />climate action goals. <br /> <br />10.B. - Page 5 of 64 <br />245