Property owners are asking the City to waive permit building fees after the Palisades Fire.
In a turnabout, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo has called for fee relief for single-family homes, duplexes, condominium complexes, townhouses, apartment buildings and commercial properties that were destroyed during the Palisades January 2025 Fire.
His nine-page recommendation will go to Budget and Finance committee Room 340, City Hall, 200 North Spring Street at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20.
In December his associate Yolanda Chavez told City Councilmembers “The current estimated General Fund impact is between $86 and $278 million based on the LADBS assessment of the number of properties damaged, the extent of the damage, the type of damage, and a projection on the number of rebuilds for each property type,” Chaves said. “The estimated range encompasses rebuilding between 110 and 150 percent of the footprint of the original property.”
With her presentation, instead of City Council members voting to approve L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ April Executive order to waive permitting fees, it went back to the Finance Committee: Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky, Bob Blumenfield, Heather Hut, Tim McOsker and Eunisses Hernandez.
That council item 25-0006-S57 will now be heard again by the finance committee, who will need to approve it, before it can go back to the full City Council.
In a December 22 CTN story (“Bogus Argument by City about Fee Waiver Costs”), Chavez was questioned how many additional employees were hired by building and safety, and why fees were waived after the Northridge Earthquake, but not the Palisades Fire. https://www.circlingthenews.com/bogus-argument-by-city-about-fee-waiver-costs/
On January 16, Szabo, the city’s top budget official issued a reworked proposal, recommending that the city Council waive the fees for every type of building destroyed in the fire.
In a L.A. Times Story, the Mayor was asked about Szabo’s proposal and said in a statement “I look forward to signing the ordinance into law to waive these fees and provide this much-needed relief that survivors deserve.”
The Palisades community is welcome to attend this meeting in person. If one needs parking reservations, please email Councilmember Traci Parks office with your vehicle’s make, model, color, and license plate number to [email protected].
Maybe the Finance Committee can get their hands on some of that 2 million dollar confidential payoff money that Fesia Davenport got.