Title 24 Reports in Torrance

Torrance spans two climate zones: 90504, at the north end, is zone 8, and the rest of the city is zone 6. The question that trips people up first, though, is whether an address is in Torrance at all.

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Postal Torrance is not the city

The Census Bureau's 2020 ZIP-area boundaries put none of 90502 inside the City of Torrance, even though the mail there is addressed to Torrance. About three-quarters of it is West Carson, unincorporated county land, and most of the rest is the City of Los Angeles. About 30 percent of 90501 is Los Angeles as well. The mismatch runs the other way too: roughly a quarter of 90277, a Redondo Beach ZIP code, lies inside Torrance.

All of those areas are zone 6, so the energy model rarely changes. The permit office does. A West Carson lot goes to Los Angeles County Public Works, a lot in the City of Los Angeles to that city's Department of Building and Safety, and only a lot inside the limits to Torrance. Confirming the jurisdiction before the plans are drawn saves a resubmittal to the right counter.

Zone 8 at the north end

90504, about a fifth of the city by land area, is zone 8, the zone of Gardena and Lawndale to the north. The other city ZIP codes, and Redondo Beach, Lomita and Palos Verdes Estates beyond them, are zone 6. Zone 8 has the warmer summers, so cooling load and solar gain through the glazing weigh more heavily in a north-end calculation than in one for the same house near the Palos Verdes hills. A model built for one end of the city is not evidence for the other.

Electronic submittal only

Building permits are issued by the Building and Safety Division of the Community Development Department. Since 5 January 2026 every plan review and permit submittal has to be electronic, through the city's Accela Citizen Access portal, and Zoning Clearance from Planning comes first. The city's portal guide asks for unlocked, unprotected PDFs and refuses ZIP files and PDF portfolios, which applies to the energy compliance report as much as to the drawings.

Pre-approved ADUs still need the energy work

Torrance offers four single-storey pre-approved ADU designs, from a 440 sq ft studio to a 798 sq ft two-bedroom. The city describes them as about 80 percent complete for permitting, and its submittal list still asks the owner for energy calculations, with solar on a separate permit. The stock plan fixes the layout; the report fixes how it performs on that lot, facing that way, in that zone.

A hazard area on the 2025 map

When the State Fire Marshal issued the 2025 Local Responsibility Area maps on 24 March 2025, the Torrance Fire Department identified an area of the city where parcels are affected. New construction on an affected parcel can take on the state's wildfire-resistant construction rules, which since 1 January 2026 sit in the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code, Part 7 of Title 24, and the glazing those rules call for is what the energy report has to model. Torrance has no entry on the Energy Commission's list of local energy ordinances for the 2025 code, so no stricter local energy rule is in force; projects meet the statewide 2025 Energy Code.

Common Title 24 Questions in Torrance

Torrance projects fall in California climate zones 6 and 8. 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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