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E24-24, my proposal to raise the IBC’s single-stair apartment building height limit from three stories to four, has passed the final membership vote, and will now officially make it into the 2027 IBC 🎉
3:50 PM · May 29, 2026
Thank you to all the YIMBYs who pushed for bills, whether successfully or not, at the state and local level – this wouldn’t have happened without bottom-up pressure
Stephen Jacob Smith
@stephenjacobsmith.com
· Oct 26, 2024
Committee members and others were explicit that it was state legislatures moving to pass bills that made them move. The lone dissenter on the egress committee said they “shouldn’t feel threatened” to pass something by legislatures, with a guy in the audience grumbling, “but we are being threatened.”
If you were one of those YIMBYs who tried but couldn’t pass a bill, you might consider one next year simply directing your board to adopt the 2027 language early (otherwise it could be a long time!). Even if you did manage to pass a bill, it could be useful to adopt the language as well, since it’s…
…probably an easier set of conditions than what your state passed.
Congratulations! It must be amazing to know that your work is having some real impact!
Congrats!
Small steps towards big improvements.
Woohoo go Stephen! Thank you for fighting to make our lives better!
If I'm not mistaken the new law wouldn't prevent CA from adopting the 2027 IBC. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some folks in CA push to amend away the new allowance, as the CA Fire Prevention Officers association opposed the proposal. (E24-24)
www.instagram.com/californiafp...
The way I describe it is that regardless of what the law says, California’s building code freeze seems to be a state of mind
Congrats and thank you for working so hard on this!
At least on its face, this would seem to make efficient podium developments feasible even on small, tight sites.
Four stories seem one too low for a podium building?
Eh, 3 over 1 can actually be financially viable if you do an efficient design.
How does it compare to NYC’s 4-story single stair rules?
Way looser. 4,000 sq. ft. per story, no corridor separation required. Would work nicely on a 50’x100’ lot in an R5/6B district.
How often do these changes make their way into state updates?
Yeah I was looking at it and NJ usually adopts an IBC code a year or two after it comes out - there’s a review process every three years and we adopted the 2021 code in 2022. We are probably going to 2024 sometime this year. I wonder if we can get this particular provision inserted early.
Yes you should push for that. Or a legislator should make it so. At this point it’s easy legislative text to just say “adopt 2027’s single-stair provisions, whatever they may be,” and the code and fire people will have a much weaker argument.
this sounds like something you’d be interested in.
