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Temecula, CA Building Safety: Green Building Code (2026)

Some Restrictions
Compiled from the official code textEditor Martyn O'NeillLast verified September 2026

Key Facts

Code adopted
CALGreen 2025 Edition, Title 24 Part 11
Local citation
Temecula Municipal Code § 15.04.010(J)
Adopting ordinance
Ordinance 2025-14, effective November 18, 2025
Plan review fee
75% of the building permit fee
Unpermitted work penalty
Double fee, capped at fee plus $500
C&D recycling trigger
5+ multifamily units or 30%+ addition

Summary

Temecula enforces the 2025 California Green Building Standards Code (Part 11, Title 24 CCR) as its local green building code under Municipal Code § 15.04.010(J), adopted by Ordinance 2025-14 on November 18, 2025. New multifamily projects of five or more units and commercial additions exceeding 30% of floor area must also meet the city's CALGreen construction-waste recycling space standard in § 8.20.770.

Except as hereinafter provided in this title, the following codes are adopted by reference as the building codes of the city of Temecula: ... J. California Green Building Standards Code, 2025 Edition, (Part 11 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations), including Appendix A5 Non-Residential Voluntary Measures; ... A copy of each of the above codes shall be maintained in the office of city clerk and shall be made available for public inspection while such codes are in force.

View official code

Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4862229; v11 updated 2026-04-14).

Full Breakdown

The city of Temecula adopts the California Green Building Standards Code, 2025 Edition (Part 11 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations), including Appendix A5 Non-Residential Voluntary Measures, as part of the construction codes package codified at Temecula Municipal Code § 15.04.010. This adoption sits alongside the 2025 editions of the California Building, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire, Energy, Residential and Wildland-Urban Interface Codes, all administered by the city's Building Official under Chapter 15.02. Ordinance 2025-14, adopted November 18, 2025, repealed and replaced the prior 2022-cycle package that Ordinance 22-13 had adopted, keeping Temecula current with the state's triennial code cycle.

A plan review fee equal to seventy-five percent of the building permit fee applies at submittal (§ 15.02.020), and work started without a permit is charged double the fee, capped at the permit fee plus five hundred dollars (§ 15.04.020(F)). Beyond the base CALGreen adoption, § 8.20.770 layers a construction-and-demolition recycling mandate onto covered CALGreen projects: buildings with five or more multifamily units must provide readily accessible areas for blue-container (recyclables) and green-container (organics) storage consistent with the city's collection program, or otherwise meet CALGreen Sections 4.408.1, 4.410.2, 5.408.1 and 5.410.1, and the same applies to commercial additions expanding floor area by more than thirty percent.

Organic waste commingled with construction and demolition debris must also meet CALGreen Sections 4.408.1 and 5.408.1. The Building Official reviews compliance during plan check and will not clear a certificate of occupancy until the recycling-space and CALGreen provisions are satisfied.

Violations & Fines

Building without a permit or in violation of the adopted construction codes, including CALGreen, is unlawful under § 15.02.060 and enforced through Chapters 1.20, 1.21, 1.24 and 8.12 of the Municipal Code. Unpermitted work is billed double the standard fee once caught, capped at the permit fee plus $500 under § 15.04.020(F), separate from any citation or nuisance-abatement action the Building Official pursues for the underlying code violation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Temecula have its own green building code?
Temecula does not write a separate green code; it adopts the state's California Green Building Standards Code, 2025 Edition, by reference at Municipal Code § 15.04.010(J), so the mandatory CALGreen measures for energy, water and material efficiency apply exactly as the state publishes them, administered locally by the Temecula Building Official during plan check and inspection.
Which projects trigger the extra construction-recycling rule?
Under § 8.20.770, any building site with five or more multifamily units, or a commercial addition that increases floor area by more than thirty percent, must provide dedicated blue- and green-container recycling and organics storage space as a condition of permit approval, on top of the base CALGreen requirements.
What happens if I build without a permit in Temecula?
Section 15.04.020(F) doubles the required permit fee once work proceeds without one, though the penalty cannot exceed the original permit fee plus five hundred dollars; the Building Official can still require a certificate of occupancy inspection, and the double fee applies in addition to any other code enforcement remedy.

Sources & Official References

Other rules in Temecula

All Temecula rules

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