Gardena, CA Building Safety: Electrical Permits (2026)

Gardena Municipal Code § 15.12.010 adopts the 2022 California Electrical Code, Part 3 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, without any appendices, as the electrical code of the city. Section 15.12.020 amends the code's fee section, 89.108.4.2, so that every electrical permit fee is set by the latest City Council resolution and the plan-review fee equals 100 percent of the building permit fee; the section spells out how fees are counted for new branch circuits, added outlets, motors, transformers, service sections and switchboard sections, down to counting three-phase lighting circuits as two branch circuits.

The chapter also amends CEC Section 230.30 at § 15.12.030 to require new buildings and structures to install underground electrical and communications service laterals rather than overhead lines, and requires existing overhead service to go underground when new dwelling units are added and the expansion exceeds 50 percent of the existing floor area or 50 percent of the structure's value, unless Southern California Edison certifies in writing that undergrounding is infeasible. Streets that already have underground service, or that never had overhead lines before July 1, 1977, must stay underground permanently.

Section 15.12.040 further requires every construction site without electrical service to install a temporary power pole before a building permit issues, and bars generators as a substitute.