Chapter 80 — REFERENCED STANDARDS

California Fire Code, Chapter 80 is amended as follows:

NFPA 13-25: Standard for the installation of Sprinkler Systems.

*NFPA 13, Amended Sections as follows:

Revise Section 29.4.1 as follows:

(a)

The Corte Madera Town Council has determined that consistent with Health and Safety Code section 17958, sub. (b)(6), the local amendments herein to sections 15.02.110, 15.02.130, 15.02.140 relate to administrative practices including establishing, altering, or removing local programs related to enforcement of building code violations or complaints alleging building code violations.

(b)

The Corte Madera Town Council has determined, consistent with Health and Safety Code section 17958 any changes herein relating to building standards are changes or modifications related to home hardening.

(c)

To the extent that changes or modifications in the requirements contained in Health and Safety Code Section 17922, the Corte Madera Town Council does hereby find, pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 17958.5, sub. (a), that such changes and modifications are reasonably necessary because of local conditions prevailing within the Town of Corte Madera. A description of said local conditions is hereinafter set forth.

CLIMATIC.

a.

The weather patterns within the Town of Corte Madera are considered to be moderately affected by the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay, which extends the year-round growing season of vegetation. The normal year's rainfall is approximately 28 inches, while the summer condition, with its prevalent Pacific high cell, creates the morning and late afternoon fog normally associated with the San Francisco Bay.

b.

Humidity generally ranges from 50% during the daytime to 86% at night. It drops to 20% and lower during the summer months.

c.

While normal temperatures usually do not exceed 75-80 degrees during the summer months, little or no rain falls during the period between April and November. This combination often creates hazardous fuel conditions in the town. Drying winds in the summer and fall months reduce fuel moisture and relative humidity to the minimum levels, thereby creating ideal fire weather conditions. The normal afternoon winds that precede the fog can move a fire quickly in the hillside and open space areas of the town.

d.

Prevailing winds are from the northwest. However, winds are experienced from virtually every direction at one time or another due to the area's topography and location. Velocities are generally in the 5-15 mph range, gusting to 20-30 mph, particularly during the summer months. Extreme winds up to 50 mph have been known to occur.

e.

Because of climatic conditions, the County of Marin has experienced water rationing in recent years, including a mandatory 35 percent reduction in 1989 and 20% in 2015. Water shortages can be expected in future years due to limited storage capacities in Marin, increased domestic consumption and weather patterns that reduce the already minimal annual rainfall. While sound management of the water resources is possible, actual demands on an already stressed water supply can most assuredly be predicted.

GEOLOGIC.

a.

The Town of Corte Madera is geologically mixed with three classifications of rock: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. The outstanding material is volcanic in origin with ridges of serpentine reaching in excess of 700 feet in elevation.

b.

Much of the town is characterized by precipitous hilly areas where escape opportunities from residential structures are limited to one side of the home only. The steepness and uneven nature of the land often hinders, and sometimes prevents, the erecting of rescue ladders at the side of a home on a hillside parcel.

c.

Seismic activity within the town occurs yearly with little or no damage, although a real potential does exist with the town situated between two active faults: the San Andreas and Hayward faults.

d.

Landslides have also been experienced in the town in recent years. While stabilization of hillsides can sometimes be achieved, heavy rainfalls have caused failures. These slides can close roadways, making accessibility to many locations in the town impossible until properly cleared.

TOPOGRAPHIC.

a.

The town is accessible from the outside by one primary thoroughfare on the east side and three on the west side. Speed limits of 25 miles per hour, by virtue of the narrow and twisting configuration of the roads, do not allow quick responses to emergencies. The Highway 101 corridor goes directly through the town and an overpass that may or may not withstand an earthquake presents another problem.

b.

Vehicular access within the town is affected by steep, hilly terrain and many secondary ridgelines. Many streets are narrow and winding, restricting the speed at which fire apparatus may safely respond and also increasing the time-lapse between fire detection and apparatus arrival, during which time a family will face the fire or other emergency on their own. The town has many dead-end streets, and on Christmas Tree Hill, there is one main access route in or out of the area. Dead-end streets can restrict the ease of relocating fire and rescue equipment from one location to another, even though actual separating distance between two areas may be minimal. In addition to restricting access routes for fire apparatus, the dead-end streets also limit egress opportunities for residents.

c.

Many of the commercial buildings in Corte Madera were largely built long before present code requirements existed. Consequently, many of these structures do not meet even minimal standards for fire protection and life safety. Wood frame construction of older buildings, especially those in mountainous areas, creates an adverse exposure problem, not only in being easily ignited by an adjacent structure fire, but also in contributing to the extension of fire to other buildings through radiation, actual physical heat conduction and flying embers. Fire history in the town has shown flying embers will start secondary fires after blowing in the air.

d.

Throughout the town, there are areas in which there are no water mains constructed at all. Meadow Valley has no water main supply, other than domestic, and there is minimal water supply along Casa Buena Drive, fronting the auto dealerships and the other major commercial establishments.

e.

The buildings on Christmas Tree Hill, many of which were constructed 50 or more years ago, are serviced by minimal water main sizes. The lack of adequate water supply in this area, along with winding streets, creates a unique fire problem. The generalized water shortage in Marin County results in occasional inadequate water volume and pressure for firefighting purposes in certain areas of the town.

Conclusion: Local climatic, geographic and topographic conditions impact fire prevention efforts, and the frequency, spread, acceleration, intensity and size of fire involving buildings in this community. Further, they impact potential damage to all structures from earthquake and subsequent fire. Therefore, it is found to be reasonably necessary that the California Fire Code and the State Building Standards Code be changed or modified to mitigate the effects of the above conditions.

Current wildfire research shows that structure loss in the WUI is driven primarily by embers igniting vulnerabilities within 0 to 30 feet of the home, especially within Zone Zero. Most homes ignite from embers entering vents, catching combustible attachments or materials alight, or from nearby structure-to-structure fire spread. Suppression resources cannot prevent destruction once ignition cascades begin in dense neighborhoods. Therefore, local defensible space and home hardening requirements must be enforced consistently and clearly to reduce community-scale risk.

The following table lists the California Fire Code sections that have been modified pursuant to Section 15.02.110 of this Code and the corresponding local climatic, geological and topographical condition findings that necessitate each amendment, addition, or deletion.

402.1 2b, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

403.1.1 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 2g

403.9.1.4 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2g

502.1 2a, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g

503.1 2a, 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f, 2g

503.1.4 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.1.5-503.1.5.3 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.2.1 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.2.6.1 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.4 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.4.2 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.6.1 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.6.2 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

503.6.3 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

507.5.1 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

507.5.1.1 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

507.5.7 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

510.1 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3d

901.7 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

902.1 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

903.3 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

903.3.10 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

903.6.1 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

906.11 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

907.2.13.1.2 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

907.6.6 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

907.8.5 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

918 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 2c, 2d

1208-1208.6 2b, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

3306.5.2-3306.5.4 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3d

3307.5.2 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 3d

5601.1.3 2a, 2c, 2d, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d

Whenever the Fire Code Official disapproves an application or refuses to grant a permit applied for, or when it is claimed that the provisions of the code do not apply or that the true intent and meaning of the code have been misconstrued or wrongly interpreted, the applicant may appeal from the decision of the Fire Code Official to the Town Council in writing, within 30 days from the date of the decision appealed. The Town Council shall render decisions and findings in writing to the Fire Code Official, with a duplicate copy to the appellant.

(Ord. No. 1049, § 3, 10-21-2025)

(a)

Any person who violates any of the provisions of the California Fire Code, as adopted and amended herein, or any other section, subsection, or provision of this chapter, or fails to comply therewith, or who violates or fails to comply with any order made thereunder, or who builds in violation of any detailed statement of specifications or plans submitted and approved thereunder, or any certificate or permit issued thereunder, and from which no appeal has been taken, or who fails to comply with such an order as affirmed or modified by the Fire Code Official, or by a court of competent jurisdiction, within the required time, shall severally for each and every such violation and noncompliance, respectively, be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $100.00 nor more than $1,000.00 or by imprisonment for not more than 180 days or by both such fine and imprisonment. The prosecuting authority may, however, in its discretion charge or reduce any violation to an infraction punishable as stated by Government Code Section 36900(c). The imposition of one penalty for any violation shall not excuse the violation or permit it to continue; and all such persons shall be required to correct or remedy such violations or defects within a reasonable time; and, when not otherwise specified, each ten days that prohibited conditions are maintained shall constitute a separate offense.

(b)

Violations of the California Fire Code or this Chapter shall be subject to administrative fines as set forth in Chapter 9.05 of the Town Municipal Code.

(c)

The application of the above penalty shall not be held to prevent the enforced removal of prohibited conditions.

(Ord. No. 1049, § 3, 10-21-2025)

All former ordinances or parts thereof conflicting or inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance or the Code hereby adopted are hereby repealed.

(Ord. No. 1049, § 3, 10-21-2025)

By adoption of this chapter the Town Council does not intend to create, establish, or impose any mandatory duty or liability on the part of the town, its officers, employees, or any other person acting on its behalf, notwithstanding the use of "shall", "will", "must", or similar terms within this chapter.

(Ord. No. 1049, § 3, 10-21-2025)