SCOTTS VALLEY -- At its meeting Wednesday evening, the Scotts Valley City Council adopted an updated set of building codes to align with state regulations, among other actions.

The meeting was the first as a councilmember for Greg Wimp, who was recently sworn in after being chosen by the council as the replacement for former Vice Mayor Allan Timms, who left the city for personal reasons in September. Following committee reports from councilmembers aside from Wimp, who was just assigned committees, Scotts Valley City Manager Mali LaGoe mentioned that the environmental impact report for the city's Town Center Project was recently completed and published on the city's website for public review and comment.

"That will be a 45-day review period," said LaGoe. "And the Planning Commission will hold a public meeting on the 20th of November to hear input from the community."

Three significant and unavoidable environmental impacts are documented in the report, including an increase of greenhouse gas emissions, for which "there would not be feasible measures within the city's control to meet the state's goal of carbon neutrality by 2045," along with a significant cumulative greenhouse gas impact. The report states that the project would also significantly contribute to cumulative vehicle miles traveled.

Following the city manager's report and the passage of the consent agenda, the City Council heard a presentation from Scotts Valley Building Official Nelson Alfaro regarding updates to the city's building standard codes to align with the state's update, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.

"Every three years, the building, plumbing, mechanical, electrical and other building codes are updated to include the most current construction and engineering principles and practices," said Alfaro at the meeting. "Under the purview of the California Building Standards Commission, the newly revised California Building Standard Codes are published for required local adoption. This process is to ensure that the latest construction, engineering, and life and safety techniques become standard practice throughout the state."

Among the code updates, Alfaro pointed out that with the enactment of Assembly Bill 130, the city of Scotts Valley is no longer able to amend the building codes for residential units based on local conditions. The bill imposes a six-year moratorium, from Oct. 1 to June 1, 2031, on the adoption or amendment of building standards for residential housing by cities or counties to ensure "regulatory stability" for developers.

"During the period local jurisdictions are prohibited from enacting new reach codes, green building ordinances, or other local amendments that would make residential construction requirements more restrictive than those contained in the California Building Standards Code," said Alfaro. "This moratorium does not prevent implementations of local amendments already in effect as of Sept. 30, 2025."

Alfaro highlighted that the state has enacted the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code "in direct response to the significant and ongoing increase in wildfire destruction, particularly within designated wildland urban interface zones."

He said that the regulatory measures that address wildfire risk were located in various chapters of the state's building code and the update consolidates the dispersed measures into "a single, comprehensive regulatory framework governing building construction, defensible space requirements and development standards within WUI (wildland urban interface) areas."

Some of the requirements associated with the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code update include the use of ignition-resistant materials in construction, the removal of flammable vegetation within specified distances to create a defensible space and requiring construction materials to be approved under the State Fire Marshal's Building Materials Listing Program if the construction is considered to be within the wildland urban interface.

"This unified code framework is intended to enhance public safety, mitigate wildfire risk, and ensure statewide consistency in WUI construction and land use standards," said Alfaro.

In response to councilmembers' questions, Alfaro clarified that the updated building codes only apply to new construction and not to existing homes.

Following questions from councilmembers and public comment, the City Council approved the updates in a unanimous vote.