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Home My WebLink About10/7/2025 Item 8a, CooperSave Our Downtown _______________________________________________________________ Seeking to protect and promote the historical character, design, livability and economic success of downtown San Luis Obispo. To: San Luis Obispo City Council Re: October 7, 2025 Meeting: Study Session New Property Safety Standards From: Allan Cooper, AIA, Secretary Save Our Downtown Date: October 3, 2025 Honorable Mayor and Council Members - In your postcard notifying us of the October 7, 2025 Study Session regarding the State’s “New Defensible Space Requirements” you say that “New buildings and remodels must follow home hardening-building materials and installation techniques to help your home resist heat, ﬂames and embers”.However in your September 23, 2025 email you stated the following: “The City Council will host a public study session during its regular meeting at City Hall on October 7, 2025 at 5 p.m. to discuss state regulations that impact thousands of properties in San Luis Obispo following the adoption of new Fire Hazard Severity Zones. “The California WUI Code only applies to all new buildings and remodels located in the State Responsibility Area (SRA).. The September 23rd email would suggest that these defensible space requirements will be retroactive to include all existing buildings. This is not the intent of California WUI Code. Of course Assembly Bill 38 states the seller of a residential property located in speciﬁed zones must submit documentation of compliance with locally adopted defensible space requirements prior to the close of escrow. CAL FIRE suggests property owners or their agents contact their local ﬁre department to ﬁnd out whether the property requires an inspection. But these requirements only apply when there is the ownership of a property changes hands. Our question is the following: Are we to assume that when San Luis Obispo develops its own defensible space requirements, all existing properties in addition to new buildings and remodels within very high and high ﬁre severity zones must conform to the new defensible space requirements? Thank you!