Surprise, Arizona opens public comment on 2024 I-Code adoption ahead of 1 January 2026 effective date

The City of Surprise, Arizona - a municipality in Maricopa County - opened a public comment period on its proposed adoption of the 2024 International Codes (I-Codes) and the 2023 National Electrical Code, with a planned effective date of 1 January 2026. The comment window closed 8 September 2025, and the city subsequently enacted Ordinance No. 2025-14, amending Surprise Municipal Code Chapter 105, Article II, Division 1, Section 105-19. The codes took effect 1 January 2026.^[1]

What is being adopted

Ordinance No. 2025-14 adopts the 2024 International Building, Residential, Fire, Mechanical, Plumbing, Fuel Gas, Energy Conservation, and Existing Buildings Codes, together with the 2023 National Electrical Code and corresponding local amendments.^[1] The adoption transitions the city from the 2018 I-Codes and the 2017 NEC previously in force. The codes apply to all new construction and renovation within city limits, covering structural safety, fire protection, electrical systems, mechanical and plumbing systems, and energy efficiency.

Staff from Community Development, Surprise Fire-Medical, Planning, and Engineering collaborated on the amendment package, with the stated goal of limiting local changes to those necessary for regional consistency and regulatory compliance.^[1]

Key local amendments

The amendment document filed with the Surprise City Clerk modifies several base-code provisions. Substantive changes include:

• IBC Section 3113 (Relocatable Buildings): The section is deleted in its entirety and replaced with a cross-reference to the Arizona Office of Manufactured Housing and its established regulations.
• IRC scope (Section R101.2): Per Arizona Revised Statutes § 9-462.13, the city may not require duplexes, townhouses, triplexes, or fourplexes to comply with a commercial building code or to contain a fire sprinkler system; those structure types are directed to the 2024 IRC as adopted and amended.
• IPC Section 1302 (On-site nonpotable water reuse systems): Deleted and replaced with a reference to Arizona Administrative Code Title 18, Chapter 9, which governs such systems at the state level.
• NEC GFCI exception for HVAC equipment (Section E3902/210.8(F)): A local exception exempting listed HVAC equipment from GFCI protection requirements expired 1 September 2026 under the amendment text.

Trades affected include general contractors, residential and commercial builders, electrical contractors, mechanical and plumbing contractors, and fire protection installers working on permitted projects within Surprise city limits.

Public comment and adoption timeline

The city scheduled two in-person outreach meetings before the comment deadline:

1. 27 August 2025 at 6 p.m.
2. 3 September 2025 at 3 p.m.

Written comments were accepted online through 8 September 2025.^[1] The city stated that all input received would be reviewed before the final package was submitted to City Council for adoption in December 2025. Council subsequently enacted Ordinance No. 2025-14, with the local amendment document dated 1 January 2026 on file with the Surprise City Clerk.

Transition and permit vesting

The ordinance repeals all conflicting prior ordinances and codes upon its effective date. The implementation document indicates that permits already submitted, in review, or under construction as of 1 January 2026 are addressed in the city's published implementation process, available at surpriseaz.gov/iCodeAdoption. Applicants with projects spanning the transition date should confirm with the Surprise Building Safety Division which code edition governs their permit; that determination belongs to the authority having jurisdiction.

The amendment package is a public record on file with the Surprise City Clerk. Whether any additional local amendments are proposed in the next code cycle - and when Surprise would next initiate a public comment process - has not been announced.