Hillsborough Municipal Code Ch. 15.21 Wildland-Urban Interface Code

Footnotes:

--- (14) ---

Editor's note— Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), adopted December 9, 2025, in effect repealed Ch. 15.21 and enacted a new Ch. 15.21 as set out herein and as may later be amended. Former Ch. 15.21 pertained to similar subject matter and derived from Ord. No. 755, adopted June 10, 2019; and Ord. No. 762, adopted January 13, 2020.

There is adopted by the town for the purpose of promoting the public health, safety, and welfare by helping prevent the spread of fire from the town's wildland areas to the town's inhabited areas and vice versa and to provide a system for the issuance of permits and collection of fees in furtherance of these purposes, all of which is consistent with Action PS-1.3 of the town's general plan, which provides, inter alia, that "The Town will work with the Central County Fire Department to review and update, if necessary, the Town's and Department's regulations and approach regarding defensible space, fire resistive vegetation, wildland mitigation, and fire protection within Hillsborough to ensure adequate fire protection", that certain code which contains building standards known as the 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, together with Appendix B of the 2024 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code, and amendments thereto.

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

The 2025 California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, as adopted by this chapter, is hereby amended in its application to the town as set forth in Sections 15.21.025 through 15.21.040.

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

Section 101.1 is amended to read "Town of Hillsborough."

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

Section 103.1 is amended to read "Central County Fire Department."

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

Section 108.2 is deleted in its entirety and replaced to read as follows:

Section 108.2. Permits and Fees

a. The fees for the permits and other services shall be as established by resolution of the Central County Fire Department as amended from time to time. The fee shall be set to cover the cost of the Fire Department to review and inspect the intended activities, operations or functions. The fees must be applied to the appropriate agency, Town of Hillsborough or Central County Fire Department, depending on the type of service.

EXCEPTION: (1) The applicant for a given permit shall be exempt from the payment when the work to be conducted is for the Town of Hillsborough under written contract to the town or for events sponsored or co-sponsored by the town.

b. In the case of multiple permits for an applicant, the permit applicant will be charged the single highest listed rate of all the permits required. The other permittable items will be charged at a rate of 50% of the listed fee as long as the permits are for the same address.

c. Where processes or materials are inherent with a permittable item, subsequent fees may be waived at the discretion of fire chief.

d. All permits required under Chapter 15.21 shall have a set number of inspections per permit as set forth by the Central County Fire Department Fee Schedule. Additional inspections and additional re-inspections will be billed at an hourly rate consistent with the Central County Fire Department Fee Schedule.

e. Application for "event" type fire code permits shall be submitted 14 days prior to the event date. Applications submitted within 13 days prior to the event date shall be charged double the regular permit rate as established by the Central County Fire Department Fee Schedule.

f. "After Hours" inspections shall be invoiced at a rate of one and one-half times the normal hourly rate of the inspecting fire personnel. "After Hours" inspections will be billed at a rate of three hours minimum. "After Hours" inspections are defined as follows: Inspections conducted outside of normal business hours, as defined on the Central County Fire Department website and based upon personnel availability.

g. Any person, group, organization, institution or business failing to pay the applicable fees under this Article shall after 30 days of the due date, for either existing or new permit applicants, shall be issued a citation for non-payment of the required permit fee. The penalty for all permit payments delinquent after 30 days shall be a doubling of the original fee.

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

Section 108.4 is deleted in its entirety and replaced to read as follows:

Section 108.4. Investigation.

Whenever construction or work for which a permit is required by this code and has been commenced without first obtaining a permit, a special investigation shall be made before a permit may be issued for the work. All work done without a required permit, including demolition of all or part of a structure or system shall be subject to the investigation and fees imposed by this section.

Section 108.4.1 is added and shall read as follows:

Section 108.4.1. Work without a permit.

In the event work is done without an issued permit, an investigation fee, in addition to the permit fee, shall be collected as a civil penalty, whether or not a permit is then or subsequently issued. The investigation fee shall be up to 10 times the fire permit fee. The investigation fee shall be determined by the Fire Chief and shall be based on the staff time reasonably required to resolve all of the issues related to the work that has been performed without a permit. No construction work permit shall be issued until the investigation fee has been paid in full.

Nothing in this section shall relieve any persons from fully complying with the requirements of this code, in the execution of the work, or from any other fees or penalties prescribed by law.

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

Section 112 is deleted in its entirety and replaced to read as follows:

Section 112.1. Appeal and review.

a. The chief of the fire department shall be charged with the duty and responsibility of administering the provisions of this chapter.

b. Whenever it is provided herein that certain things shall be done in accordance with an order of the fire department, such order shall be complied with. Any person aggrieved thereby may appeal to the fire chief in writing within ten (10) days after the date of such order, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. The fire chief, or in his or her absence the deputy fire chief, shall issue a written decision to affirm, modify or reverse the order within two (2) business days of receipt of the appeal. The fire chief's written decision may be appealed to the Central County Fire Department Fire Board no later than ten (10) days from the date of the fire chief's written decision. The fire board's decision shall be final and conclusive and may not be appealed to the city council. Except in the case of immediate hazard, the enforcement of the order shall be suspended until such person has exhausted the appeal process as described above.

c. Any court action or proceeding to review or challenge a decision or order of the fire board shall be barred unless it is commenced within twenty (20) days of the date of service of the written decision or order (or such later date as may be specified by California Government Code Section 53069.4), and such decision or order shall contain a statement so advising the prospective appellant(s) of this time limit on seeking court review. A decision of the fire board shall be considered final for purposes of seeking court review, and no review or other consideration by the city council shall be necessary. However, no action or proceeding to review or challenge a fire board decision shall be permitted unless each ground or basis for such action or proceeding first has been asserted to the fire board pursuant to the procedures set forth in Section 15.20.035.

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

Section 403.1.5(a), is amended to read as follows:

Section 403.1.5(a) No road or road structure shall have less than a minimum horizontal inside radius of curvature of fifty (50) feet. An additional surface width of four (4) feet shall be added to curves of 50-100 feet radius; two (2) feet to those from 100-200 feet.

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)

A. When, in the judgment of the fire chief, it is reasonably necessary to amend the provisions of the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code due to local climatic, geological or topographical conditions, or other statutorily permissible conditions, the fire chief shall prepare and submit the proposed amendments to the city council for consideration at the next regularly scheduled council meeting. Before adopting any changes or modifications in the requirements contained in the provisions published in the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, or in any other regulations adopted hereunder, the city council shall make an express finding that such modifications or changes are reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological, or topographical, or other statutorily permissible conditions. Such finding shall be made available as a public record. Upon approval by the city council and filing of the council's findings with the office of the state fire marshal or other governing body, such amendments shall be added to and become a part of the provisions of this chapter.

B. From October 1, 2025, through June 1, 2031, the town is limited in its ability to modify provisions related to residential units. Allowable findings for modifications during this time are limited to:

1. Modifications previously adopted and filed with the California Build Standards Commission (CBSC) before September 30, 2025;

2. Administrative changes related to administration of the code;

3. Emergency health and safety measures as deemed by the CBSC;

4. Needed to implement a greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy as outlined in a general plan adopted before June 10, 2025; or

5. Related to fire home hardening.

(Ord. No. 799, § 3(Exh. A), 12-9-2025)