City Hires New Building Official

The city has hired Ron Takiguchi to serve as Pasadena’s new building official.  

A tenured building official with more than 30 years of experience, most recently with the city of Burbank as assistant director/building official, Takiguchi previously served as the chief building official in Santa Monica and as deputy building official with Los Angeles County.

In Pasadena, Takiguchi will manage the Planning Department’s Building & Safety Division and oversee plan check and building inspection functions. 

Takiguchi replaces longtime Building Official Sarkis Nazerian,  who retired in June.

Nazerian is perhaps best known lately for ordering the city to close Pasadena Central Library in May after a structural assessment conducted as part of the scope of work for the Central Library building systems and structural assessment capital improvement project revealed that most of the historic structure is comprised of unreinforced masonry (URM) bearing walls that support concrete floors and walls.

A city official told Pasadena Now in June that Nazarian’s retirement was not in response to the situation at the library.

“He had a long, productive career and was eligible and talked often about retirement,” said Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian. 

David Reyes, director of the city’s Department of Planning and Community Development, said Takiguchi will oversee the building plan check review process for all new development in the city, as well as the building inspection process.

“Ron’s extensive experience in administering municipal building codes will be a welcome asset to the Planning and Community Development Department as we look to implement a 100% online process,” Reyes said.

“He asserts that building and safety should be a facilitator of projects while assisting homeowners, business operators, contractors and developers in the permitting process,” Reyes said of Takiguchi. “He highly believes in the safe occupancy of buildings through the proper application of codes and standards while considering innovation and creative design.”

Takiguchi is a registered professional engineer and a certified building official. He is currently chair of the Plumbing-Electrical-Mechanical-Energy Code Advisory Committee and a member of the Green Building Advisory Committee of the California Building Standards Commission. 

Takiguchi is also an adjunct faculty member at UCLA Extension in the Department of Engineering and Technology.

Nazarian is remembered for working hard to keep local residents safe during two local emergencies. One was in 2004 when heavy rainfall led to mudslides in Eaton Canyon. The other was in 2011 when violent windstorms knocked down power lines and trees. 

Nazarian worked tirelessly during both emergencies to guarantee local buildings were safe to occupy, according to city officials.