West Covina, CA Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Sec. 7-85(a) adopts Title 28 of the Los Angeles County Code, current as amended and in effect January 1, 2023 and built on the 2022 California Plumbing Code, as West Covina's Plumbing Code, covering installation, alteration and repair of plumbing systems in the city. A complete copy of Title 28 and the California Plumbing Code is kept on file with the building official under Sec. 7-85(b), and a conflicting local amendment controls over the adopted text.

Rather than restate separate fee rules, Sec. 7-86 cross-references Article II's building permit provisions at Sections 7-19 and 7-20 for fees, refunds, and expiration, so a plumbing permit is priced the same way a building permit is: a value-based permit fee plus a plan review fee equal to 85 percent of it, doubled if work begins before the permit issues, with an 80-percent refund available on a cancelled, unused permit and an 80-percent refund on an uncommenced plan check. Plan check applications for plumbing work expire after 180 days with no permit issued, subject to the same two-extension process available under Sec. 7-18.

Sec. 7-87 sets the penalty for violating the plumbing article: any violation is a misdemeanor, though the prosecuting attorney can instead charge it as an infraction, and the city can issue an administrative citation under Chapter 15, Article X in lieu of criminal prosecution. Because the plumbing article incorporates the 2022 California Plumbing Code wholesale, the specific fixtures, drainage, and venting standards a permit must satisfy come from that adopted state code rather than from freestanding West Covina text.