Monterey Park, CA Building Safety: Door Locking Hardware (2026)

Chapter 16.23 of the Monterey Park Municipal Code requires security hardware on the exterior openings of commercial buildings 'used for business, industrial, and/or manufacturing purposes' to deter burglary (Section 16.23.010). Front doors with tempered-glass panels, solid wood or metal must carry a cylinder dead lock that unlocks by key outside and by turnpiece, handle or knob inside, or a dead-locking latch with a guarded bolt (Section 16.23.060). Double doors need the same lock on the active leaf plus automatic flush bolts top and bottom on the inactive leaf.

Rolling overhead doors need internal slide bolts if manually operated, a metal keeper and pin if chain-operated, and a secured operating shaft if crank-operated; garage-type doors need a cylinder lock, padlock or metal slide bar. Every exterior hinge on a front door must carry a nonremovable pin (Section 16.23.060(6)). Rear, side, basement and roof doors face the same locking rules plus a requirement for exterior lighting equal to a one-hundred-watt bulb (Section 16.23.070). Glass skylights and hatchways need iron bars or steel mesh (Section 16.23.080).

Exit doors required to carry panic hardware, and Group E, I or U-2 occupancies, are exempt (Section 16.23.100). Single- and multiple-family dwellings are instead governed by the 1997 Uniform Building Security Code, adopted by reference (Section 16.23.110). Commercial and professional office buildings may not add new security bars, grates or rolling metal doors, though ones already installed can stay until the current occupancy ends (Section 16.23.095). The building official administers and enforces the chapter and may call on the police chief to test compliance (Section 16.23.020); the building owner bears responsibility for meeting the specifications (Section 16.23.040).