Lakewood, CA Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Section 8200 of the Lakewood Municipal Code adopts the California Plumbing Code, 2025 Edition, by reference as the plumbing code of the City of Lakewood, most recently reaffirmed by Ordinance No. 2025-2 on November 11, 2025. The adoption text itself states the Code regulates plumbing and drainage systems, prescribes conditions under which plumbing work may be carried on within the city, and provides for the issuance of permits and collection of fees, with a copy kept on file at the City Clerk's office for public inspection.

Because Lakewood is a contract city that relies on Los Angeles County for police and fire service, it is tempting to assume plumbing permits work the same way, but they do not: § 8101, whose definitions § 8201 applies equally to the Plumbing Code, defines the Building Department as the Building and Safety Division of the city's own Community Development Department and the Building Official as the Director of Community Development. That city office, not the Sheriff's Department or County Public Works, reviews plans, inspects work, and signs off on plumbing permits.

Permit fees are not fixed in the ordinance text; § 8205 instead directs that the fees contained in the Plumbing Code apply except where amended by resolution of the City Council, so the current fee schedule lives in a separate Council resolution rather than in the code itself. Appeals from a Building Official decision on plumbing work go to the city's Board of Appeals, defined at § 8203 as the Board of Appeals created under Chapter 1 of this Article, which also functions as the Building Rehabilitation Board for variance and alternate-materials questions.