Title 24 Reports in Pasadena

All six of Pasadena's street-address ZIP codes are climate zone 9, and so is Altadena next door. Here the zone is rarely the open question. Which set of rules a building is measured against often is.

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The zone is the settled part

Every street-address ZIP in the city, 91101, 91103, 91104, 91105, 91106 and 91107, carries zone 9, and so do Altadena (91001), San Marino, South Pasadena and Sierra Madre. Nothing about a Pasadena site moves it. What varies here more than in most cities is the rulebook: a designated historic house, an Eaton Fire rebuild and a new apartment building can each be measured in a different way.

Historic buildings start from a different code

Pasadena is authorised to use the State Historical Building Code for historic buildings, and the Energy Code, in Exception 1 to Section 100.0(a), excepts qualified historic buildings regulated by that code. The exception is narrower than it sounds. The historical code still requires nonhistorical additions to comply with the Energy Code, and new mechanical, plumbing or electrical equipment to meet it unless that would threaten historical significance or character-defining features. A new rear addition to a designated house still needs its own compliance documentation.

Design review sits on top. On the street-facing elevation of a historic resource, changing two or more design features of the windows — frame material, muntin pattern, operation type, trim or sill — is a major project needing a Certificate of Appropriateness, while like-for-like replacement windows are a minor one. Bungalow Heaven, Garfield Heights and Banbury Oaks each have a conservation plan of their own. Where a window schedule has to pass both the preservation review and the Energy Code's performance values, it pays to know which one limits the choice before calculations are run.

Eaton Fire rebuilds

The Eaton Fire destroyed homes inside Pasadena as well as in Altadena, and the City's rebuild guidance treats hillside properties in Upper Hastings separately from the rest. Pasadena's rebuild ordinance lets a replacement exceed the previous footprint or floor area by 10% or 200 square feet, whichever is greater. Under Executive Order N-29-25, as the Energy Commission explains it, residential rebuilds after the Los Angeles County fires may keep using the 2022 Energy Code although the 2025 code took effect on 1 January 2026, and are excused from its solar and battery requirements; solar-ready rules still apply where they would. Altadena is unincorporated, so rebuilds there go through Los Angeles County's Altadena One-Stop Permit Center rather than the City.

The all-electric ordinance is suspended

Ordinance 7398, adopted in August 2022, required newly constructed multifamily buildings of more than three units, mixed-use buildings and commercial buildings to be all-electric, with single-family homes and ADUs exempt. The City states that enforcement was suspended on 20 August 2025, so for now new multifamily and commercial work is measured against the state Energy Code without the local gas prohibition on top.

Permits and power

Applications go through the Pasadena Permit Center in the Planning and Community Development Department, and new construction, ADUs, additions, conversions and tenant improvements can be submitted online through the Citizen Self-Service Portal. Electricity comes from Pasadena Water and Power, which the City owns and operates.

Common Title 24 Questions in Pasadena

Pasadena projects fall in California climate zone 9. The zone drives the envelope and equipment requirements a report has to meet, and a single city can span more than one, so it is confirmed per address.

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