Building & Safety Appeals and Customer Feedback in Ventura County

Code requirements may not be waived.  But if you feel that your Building Inspector, Plan Review Engineer, or other B&S employee is incorrectly applying or interpreting a referenced Code section(s) to your project, the interpretation may be appealed for review by a B&S supervisor or by the County Building Official.

Generally, the best course of action is to first discuss the interpretation in question with the B&S employee, who can give you detailed information about the reasoning behind his/her interpretation and why it applies to your project.  If needed, feel free to request the referenced code section being used so that you can review or research the pertinent requirements and the context under which the requirement(s) is being used. 

For State code provisions, you can review the code section(s) at  https://www.dgs.ca.gov/BSC/Codes.

For local amendments and local Code requirements, you can review the pertinent code sections at https://vcrma.org/divisions/building-and-safety/building-codes-and-permits/. Remember to use the correct edition of the code that is applicable to your project and not a newer or older edition that may be different and not applicable.

If, after you have reviewed and discussed the interpretation in question with our staff and you feel we are still interpreting the Code section incorrectly, then you may appeal the decision as follows:

1. Appeals to the Section supervisor

Interpretations made by our Inspection or Plan Review staff can be appealed further by discussing the matter with the section supervisor. The name and contact information for the section supervisor with whom you can discuss your appeal further can be found here under Phone Directory

2. Appeals to the District Manager
Interpretations made by a Section Supervisor can be appealed further by discussing the matter with the District Manager for the permit-issuing office for your project. The name and contact information for the District Manager with whom you can discuss your appeal further can be found here under Phone Directory

3. Appeals to the County Building Official
Interpretations made by a District Manager can be appealed further by submitting your appeal, in writing, to the County Building Official. Please send a letter with a detailed description of your appeal and reasoning behind it to Ruben.Barrera@ventura.org or you can mail it to

Ruben Barrera, County Building Official
County of Ventura Building and Safety Division
800 S. Victoria Ave
Ventura, CA 93009

4. Appeals to the Building Appeals Board
Interpretations made by a County Building Official can be appealed further by submitting your formal request for an Appeals Hearing by the Ventura County Board of Appeals. Such requests must be made using the appropriate B&S form, 

“Request for Hearing by the Board of Appeals.”

The appeal must be accompanied by the reasoning and justification outlining your position in detail to be presented to the Board of Appeals during the hearing. The request for appeal must be accompanied by a non-refundable fee in the amount listed in the most current County Fee Schedule and submitted in person at the Building and Safety public counter at the Hall of Administration (third floor), 800 S. Victoria Ave, in Ventura. The Board of Appeals does not have authority to waive code requirements.  See VCBC section 113.2 for more information regarding the limitations of authority for the Board of Appeals. Decisions made by the Board of Appeals are final.