Glendale commercial restroom fixtures: City Code 9-35 flow limits, automatic faucets and the 1.6 gallon footnote

Section 9-35 says that "no person may install any plumbing fixtures for use in this city in any new commercial, industrial or public construction or for replacing plumbing fixtures in existing commercial, industrial or public construction" unless the fixtures meet the listed standards. The ordinance opens with an exception for Arizona Revised Statutes sections 45-315 and 45-319. The standards:

• Lavatory faucets. A mechanism that closes the faucet automatically after delivering no more than one quart of water.
• Shower heads. No more than 2 gallons per minute at 80 psi.
• Water closets. No more than 1.28 gallons per flush.
• Urinals. No more than one-half gallon per flush, and "No urinals may be installed that use a timing device to flush periodically regardless of demand."
• Evaporative cooling systems and decorative fountains. Equipped with water recycling or reuse systems.

Section 9-33 defines commercial, industrial and public construction as buildings used for those purposes, "including restaurants, bars, nightclubs, public buildings, comfort stations, schools, gymnasia, factories, offices, athletic clubs, hotels and motels." Section 9-32 requires the fixtures to be certified by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials and to comply with applicable American National Standards Institute standards.

Ordinance O25-51 also amends the 2024 IPC in Section 9-21:

• IPC 412.13. "New or replacement faucets serving lavatories in all buildings other than R3 occupancies, individual units in R2 occupancies, or International Residential Code structures shall be provided with automatic faucets in accordance with Table 604.4."
• Table 604.4. Public lavatory: 0.25 gallon per metering cycle, or 0.5 gpm at 60 psi if it is not a metering faucet. Shower heads 2.0 gpm at 80 psi. Sink faucet 1.8 gpm at 60 psi. Flushing urinals 0.5 gallon per flush. Water closet 1.28 gallons per flush.
• Section 604.4 exception. "Replacement of existing fixtures that do not require a permit." Section 9-35 separately names replacements in existing commercial construction, so do not read this exception as removing the 9-35 limits.
• Footnote e. "A 1.6 gallon per flushing cycle is permitted where a water closet is connected to a building's existing sanitary drainage piping."
• Fixture counts, 2902.6. Section 9-17 amends the IBC fixture count provisions, revising 15 to 50 in 2902.6 and footnote e of Table 2902.1 to read 50 or fewer, and adds a footnote that 24 inches of wash sink or 18 inches of a circular wash basin counts as one lavatory. Those amendments also apply to IPC Table 403.1. What the threshold exempts sits in the copyrighted model code, so read 2902.6 itself.

• Metering faucet. The code uses the phrase "per metering cycle" and the quart rule. A quart is 0.25 gallon, so the two numbers describe the same cycle. That equivalence is arithmetic, not a stated definition.
• Commercial, industrial and public construction. Defined in 9-33 by a list of building uses. Residential construction has its own list and its own section, 9-34.
• Replacing plumbing fixtures. Section 9-33 defines "plumbing fixture" to include lavatory faucets, lavatory faucet replacement aerators, kitchen faucets, shower heads, urinals, water closets, evaporative coolers and decorative fountains, and says it "does not include parts necessary for routine maintenance." Whether a flush-valve rebuild is routine maintenance is a reading the code leaves to the city.
• Automatic faucet. The code does not define it. The reading that fits Table 604.4 is a faucet that shuts off by itself, but that is a reading.

Anyone who installs a fixture in a commercial, industrial or public building in Glendale, new or replacement. Section 9-36(a) says that if a noncompliant fixture is installed, "the person who acquired the building or plumbing permit or the person who installed the fixture, or both, are subject to the penalties."

This does not apply to residential buildings. Those fall under 9-34, which has its own faucet limits, and 9-36(c) says the penalty section does not apply to an owner or occupant of a residential dwelling who installs a fixture in the dwelling they occupy.

A restaurant restroom refresh. The owner replaces two lavatory faucets and a urinal. The faucets must be self-closing and metering to Table 604.4, and the urinal must be 0.5 gallon with no timer. A timed-flush unit left over from the old build is the item that fails.

A new shower at a Glendale gym. The shower head must be 2.0 gpm at 80 psi, the same figure used for residential construction in 9-34(3).

The edge case, where the answer flips. A strip-mall tenant replaces a toilet that sits on 1990s drain piping. The plumbing code's footnote e lets a water closet use 1.6 gallons per flush when it connects to existing sanitary drainage piping. Section 9-35(3) says "no more than one and twenty-eight hundredths (1.28) gallons of water per flush" for replacing fixtures in existing commercial construction and has no 1.6 exception. The texts are in the same ordinance and do not reconcile on their face. Ask the plan reviewer which one the city applies before you buy the fixture.

1. 1List every fixture the job touches and mark each as new or replacement.
2. 2Check each against the 9-35 list and Table 604.4: one quart for lavatories, 2.0 gpm showers, 1.28 gallon toilets, 0.5 gallon urinals, no timers.
3. 3For a toilet on existing drain piping, ask the city whether 1.6 gpf under footnote e or 1.28 gpf under 9-35(3) applies, and get the answer in writing with the permit.
4. 4Buy fixtures that carry IAPMO certification and meet ANSI standards, which 9-32 requires.
5. 5Apply for the plumbing permit through the Development Services Center, which handles Glendale building permits.

• Myth: commercial and residential limits are the same. Lavatory faucets are not. Residential allows 1.5 gpm at 60 psi in 9-34(1), while commercial requires a self-closing mechanism that stops after one quart.
• Myth: a timed-flush urinal is fine if it flushes low. Section 9-35(4) bans urinals that flush periodically regardless of demand.
• Myth: a replacement is exempt. Section 9-35 names "replacing plumbing fixtures in existing commercial, industrial or public construction."
• Myth: only the installer is on the hook. Under 9-36(a), the person who acquired the permit, the installer, or both can be penalized.

Section 9-36(a) sets a civil penalty of "not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) for the first violation" and not more than $250 for a second or later one, and says each noncomplying fixture is a separate violation. Section 9-38 lets the director send a notice of a hearing at least 30 days out and then issue a decision that may include a cease and desist order, and the city may seek an injunction if the violation continues.

The text is on Municode under Chapter 9, Articles II and III. This page explains the code and the official text governs.