Gardena, CA Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Gardena Municipal Code § 15.16.010 adopts the 2022 California Plumbing Code, Part 5 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, as the plumbing code of the city, but limits the adoption to only four appendices: Appendix A for sizing the water supply system, Appendix D for sizing storm water drainage systems, Appendix H for private sewage disposal systems, and Appendix I for installation standards. Because Appendix H is one of the adopted appendices, any private sewage disposal system, such as a septic system on a parcel without sewer access, must meet that appendix's installation and siting standards as part of the same plumbing-permit process.

Section 15.16.020 amends the code's fee provision, Section 104.5, and disables Sections 104.5.1 through 104.5.3, replacing them with a rule that ties every plumbing permit fee to the latest resolution the City Council adopts, and sets the plan-review fee at 100 percent of that permit fee. The section also authorizes the Building Official to refund an erroneously collected fee in full, to refund up to 80 percent of a permit fee when no work has been done under a permit, and to refund up to 80 percent of a plan-review fee when an application is withdrawn or canceled before review starts, provided the refund request is filed in writing within 180 days of the fee payment.