Under emergency orders, people will not be allowed to build duplexes on single family lots.
Three builders are now asking Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) to switch their duplex permit to a permit for a single-family home.
Today, the project at 768 Hartzell was posted on LADBS site “the applicant emailed to request a change in the scope of work. The owner now intends to switch to a single-family dwelling, waiting on revised plans.”
The project at 732 Hartzell also submitted plans on August 7 for a “new 2-story house with attached 2-car garage.”
The project at 1116 N. Galloway, as of August 6, is now in plan recheck “due to changes in scope from SB9 duplex to a single-family dwelling with attached garage.”
SB 9 was a state law that was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021 that would have allowed single family lots to house duplexes, and to split lots.
The last week of July, residents found out that seven properties were asking Building and Safety for applications to build a duplex. On the Alphabet Streets, duplex permits were requested for 768 and 732 Hartzell, 1116 Galloway and 1006 Kagawa. Other addresses that sought a permit for a duplex were 1301 Amalfi Drive, 437 Mount Holyoke (and 425 Holyoke) and 536 Bienveneda.
Residents objected to increasing the density in the town, which is located in the very high fire severity zone. During the January 7 Palisades Fire, with only three roads in and out of the town, evacuations were perilous.
Palisades residents sent more than 21,000 letters opposing SB 9 via Action Network to the Governor. That prompted Newsom to sign an executive order, allowing local governments with emergency designations to operate at their own discretion.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass passed an Executive Emergency Order No. 9 “Return and Rebuild,” which said no new applications would be accepted for duplexes.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about the applications that had already been submitted.
Mayor Bass was a complete failure. She showed no capability to deal with this fire, and her only action was to fire the Fire Chief. She should have resigned!
This was the worst disaster in my 80+ years living in Los Angeles. The lack of direction or guidance provided by the city/state was non existant.
Mayor Bass was more concerned about housing the homeless than providing more assistance to the fire department. The amount of money she directed to non fire related items was in the billions! But cut the fire departments budget and gave more money to housing the homeless. Shows what her priorities were.
she should be ashamed of her performance, and never run for public office again!
We need to preserve the “small town USA” (a slice of Norman Rockwell) character of the Palisades, as much as possible! We have lived in the Palisades for over 40 years and are rebuilding! We just got our plans approved on August 5!!! Best wishes to my fellow Palisadians!
Mayor Bass can run for office until Kingdom Come.
The problem is with the voters!
Choose better…