Almost the entire town was burned down in the Palisades Fire and L.A. City Council members worry they can’t pay Building and Safety workers if permit fees are waived for rebuilding.
The building and safety permit fees that are normally assigned to any new residence in Los Angeles, can vary from tens of thousands of dollars to close to a hundred thousand dollars. In April, Mayor Karen Bass signed an executive order that would waive L.A. building permit fees for those who lost homes in the January 7 Palisades Fire to encourage rebuilding.
Katy Yaroslavsky is a member of the L.A. City Finance committee.
At LA City’s Budget and Finance Committee meeting on October 7, members Bob Blumenfield, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Katy Yaroslavsky, Tim McOsker and Monica Rodriquez were asked to pass her executive order so that it could go to the full council for approval. click here.
People who have lost everything are having difficulty because of lack of money from insurance, insurance not paying, or no insurance. Construction costs are expensive and have been estimated at $800 to $1,200 a square foot. Even after rebuilding, people will need to buy furniture to replace what they lost.
There are uber wealthy that live in Pacific Palisades, but they constitute a small minority. Twenty-five percent are seniors, living on a fixed income, families, schoolteachers, artists and musicians, and those who have inherited a home that has been in the family for decades, some for 50 years or longer.
There are close to a thousand affordable housing units and numerous apartments. People with families move to the neighborhood because the public schools are among the top in Los Angeles and rank high in the state.
If permit fees are waived, it could make the difference between coming back or having to move out of the Palisades.
Bass can sign an executive order, but unless it’s approved by the City Council, it doesn’t become law.
Public comments were heard at the start of the meeting, and one of the more interesting public comments, about 21 minutes in the hearing, came from Spindler (not a resident) who summed up the situation.
“Why would you charge building fees, when you started the fire, in the first place? You started that f*cking fire . . .the fire department didn’t go and fully put it out. It kept burning Bob, it burnt the whole thing to the ocean. Then there was no water in the reservoir and you’re not going to give these people a waiver of their building fees? What kind of c*cksucker does it take. . .how do you sit in these chairs and do that? Do you realized when a court of law rules that you guys burnt those houses, you ain’t going to worry about building fees you’re going to pay to build the houses back. . . .You’re going to prison, you burnt the Palisades down.”
Councilmember Traci Park addressed the committee. “Let’s not forget this rebuild is not voluntary, not for anyone who lost their home or property,” Park said. “Palisadians were not able to plan ahead or save up for what happened on January 7. Every dollar counts, the least we can do is permanently waive the fees for those who lost everything.” She cited precedent of fees being waived in prior disasters.
Numerous Palisades residents gave public comment begging for a waiver. One of the most compelling was Haldis Toppel, who said, “I have lived on Enchanted Way for 50 years, my husband bought the house in 1960 for $54,000. We never planned to leave; we never planned to sell. I live on retirement. Every dollar I have to spend out of my own pocket will limit the amount of money I have to left to retire and live in my house. I’m 83 years old and would like to live there a few more years.
May Sung told the committee, “I’m an immigrant and 20 years ago we achieved the American Dream to be able to buy the cheapest house in the Palisades, so our kids could go to school there. Nine months ago, that dream burned down. I am also an architect, and my clients and neighbors would appreciate waiving all rebuilding fees. –it’s a construction process that nobody asked for. All we want is to be able to go home and be able to afford a bed to sleep in, and a chair to sit on.”
After listening to the residents, the members of the committee discussed the cost to the city to waive fees. Fees pay for Building and Safety staff and if fees are waived, paying for staff would have to come out of the general fund.
As one person pointed out, none of the people in the Palisades planned to build – they had homes, and this cost was entirely on the city.
The cost to city for the permits could range between an estimated initial cost $86 million – if everyone rebuilds like-for-like and up to 110 percent. In June, a new proposal expanded the sq. footage from 110 to 150, it included ADUs, grading and swimming pools. That estimated cost for that version was $278 million.
Under Prop. 218 the City would be required to cover those ‘lost’ permit fees from general funds. Permit fees are not a source of profit for the City, they simply ensure the City breaks even for the work performed. The cost of revenue to the City is real and would pay for staff time.
The finance committee wondered about impact fees, which are also charged on new construction. These fees offset public facilities, such as new schools, parks, and roads. These fees are separate from permit and application fees and are paid as a one-time amount. What was not stated was anyone who moved to the Palisades had already paid for those fees, so to charge again would be like double taxation.
Several people noted during public comments that backtracking on Mayor Bass’ order and not issuing the waivers was wrong.
Bob Blumenfield is on the L.A. City Finance committee.
Blumenfield said, “Basically it doesn’t matter what the Mayor said, because this council is the only one that can decide whether we waive fees or not.”
It was noted that as of October 7, there were 1086 permits and 692 of those filed were for single family homes. The cost to the City was $3.7 million dollars for the first 566 unique addresses. The committee was told it was hard to estimate what the total cost might be.
Blumenfield said, “It is a subsidy. Let’s call it for what it is.”
“We are asking the taxpayers from the rest of the city to pay these fees. How do we pay for it, would it be less cops, less firefighters? We’re not waiving fees,” Blumenfield said. “We are paying for this out of our budget. Now we had a tragic situation, and I think it makes sense to pay for some of it, but I don’t want us to sugar coat it.”
The committee spoke about requiring a faster, self-certification, which could lower fees and reduce the City’s cost of paying staff.
A representative from building and safety said, “planners still need to check self-certification.”
It also appears that the City cannot waive DWP fees, “that is separate,” the committee was told.
The request for a fee waiver will be advanced to the full City Council with an amended motion: that instructed the city attorney to revise the draft ordinance dated June 20 to align it to the ordinance with the Mayor’s Executive Order dated April 25 to waive all building permit fees associated with repair or reconstruction of single-family residences duplexes, damaged or destroyed up to 110 percent of the original structure. The Chief Administrative Officer Matt Szabo is to give a report with the breakdown of the cost estimate including specific fees waived or not waived and the estimate (about 1:40 into the hearing.).
Thank Sue for some clarity
Maybe the City could throw a benefit concert to raise the money lost to fee waivers…
“It is a subsidy. Let’s call it for what it is.” A subsidy Bob? Is that what it is? What the hell do you think the people of the Palisades have been doing for decades? We’ve been subsidizing the rest of L.A. You thanked us by letting our town burn down. And now you think we’re looking for a subsidy? We’re looking for you to do the right thing. The cost of waiving permit fees is a pittance compared to the subsidy we’ve provided to the rest of L.A. This is also an example of why politicians should be required to first get real jobs. To run a business. While he’s greenlighting spending billions of dollars upgrading the convention center, which will not pencil out in our life times and will saddle us with debt for years, he can’t fathom how helping build back the Palisades faster will yield benefits to the City. I just got my property tax bill and it’s about 40% of what it was on January 6, 2025. Think that hurts the City financially? I haven’t spent a dime in the Palisades which means I haven’t paid sales tax. I’ll happily take my spending to Malibu, Santa Monica and other non-L.A. locales to deprive Bob of my money. Ask Bob how he’s going to continue throwing billions at the homeless issue and accomplishing nothing without the subsidy he gets from the Palisades. Ask Bob how it’s going to look when the World Cup and the Olympics start sending footage of a ghost town that used to be a vibrant, shining example of Los Angeles around the world. Just when I thought my disdain for politicians could not grow any further, Bob opened up his ignorant, offensive mouth.
Doug Day: Thanks for the laugh!!
My house has been in my family since 1954. I evacuated with my family and pets, nothing else. No jewelry, no documents, no pictures…I’m devastated by the fire. I was the family historian with information that burned going back to the American Revolution. My health is much worse since January 7th so I can’t be the General Contractor and rebuild without help.
Please waive the permit fees and help us make a home again!
The Los Angeles City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee’s revised proposed ordinance for waiving plan check and permit fees for homes destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades Fires is for single-family homes and duplexes only – it excludes condominiums and townhomes. This change reverses our community’s efforts earlier this year to have condominiums and townhomes included in Mayor Bass’ revised Executive Orders.
A high percentage of condominium and townhome owners are retired Seniors on fixed incomes or with lower incomes. They are the ones who will bear the cost of these fees if condominium and townhome HOAs are not included in the fee waiver ordinance. If it is too expensive to rebuild, condominium and townhome HOAs will be forced to sell their lots to developers who will likely build high density, luxury condos, thereby permanently displacing these Palisadians from their homes and forever changing the tranquil, small town character of Pacific Palisades.
As a community, we are interdependent and cannot fully recover when parts of the community are excluded. Condominium and townhome owners are equal members of the community – they pay property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, and they VOTE! – they deserve to receive equal access to public recovery resources.
Help us right this wrong and clear the way for the entire Palisades community to recover, rebuild, and restart our lives. Please tell LA City Council members that the fee waiver ordinance must include condominiums and townhomes and that they must pass the ordinance to expedite the recovery of our entire community.