Residents are asking the City to waive building and permit fees for new construction to replace destroyed properties.
It was widely reported that the city of Los Angeles had issued just four rebuilding permits in the Pacific Palisades 75 days after the January 7 Palisades Fire devastated most of the community.
One permit was issued to the owner of a split-level home near Rustic Canyon for fire repairs to a damaged bedroom, bathroom and garage. Only two permits were for full rebuilds.
A letter to CTN on March 13 said that after meeting with a L.A. City plan checker, residents were told that cost for permitting to rebuild could exceed $70,000.
On March 21, this editor asked about waiving rebuilding fees at Mayoral press conference in the Palisades and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass replied that she asked for a list from building and safety and planning of all the fees and to waive everything that they can. She said that some fees they can’t waive, but those that can’t be waived, she would try to have them reduced.
In a March 28 letter to the Mayor and to CTN, residents said they had received an invoice for $1,338 for a permit fee for the Grading Department to review a soils report.
The residents wrote, “The city and county have expressed their desires to help our communities rebuild. We are prepared to invest in our town’s future, but we cannot move forward with rebuilding until we know that the planning and building permit fees have been waived.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety about the permitting process on March 28. Fox also reached out to State Rep. Joe Patterson, a Republican who serves as the vice chair of the Committee on Housing and Community Development, said the Los Angeles planning and building departments should be put into receivership.
“’The taxpayers of California have given a lot of money to the LA region to recover, as they should,” Patterson told Fox News Digital. “But there is also an equal responsibility that the entities we’re giving the money to… ought to get out of the way of efficient use of those dollars.’
“Patterson noted that some money given to Los Angeles was specifically to pay for permitting costs.
“If they’re going to be this inefficient with taxpayer dollars, then we need to take that power away from them to issue permits and let the free market help these people rebuild,” Patterson said.
After a March 25 City Council ad hoc meeting, Councilmember Traci Park said, “When I hear in a committee meeting like we had today that only four permits have been issued and we’re at day 75 post-fire, that is concerning to me.
“The loss of business and tax revenue is going to impact us,” Park said. “We are looking at hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses overall here, and I don’t think there is any real easy way to sugarcoat this. It’s a mess.”
During L. A. Mayor Karen Bass’ weekly meeting held via Zoom on April 1, this CTN editor again asked, “When will the Mayor waive building and permit fees?”
A timeline was not given, instead this editor was told that “Councilmember Traci Park had led a motion to come back with an analysis.”
“There will be more clear answers when the legislative timeline is finished,” said Jenny Delwood, the Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff.
Many Palisades residents who lost their homes would like to rebuild. Some have inadequate insurance, often through no fault of their own. Others have mortgages on the homes that burned.
Although this area has been branded as uber-wealthy, the majority of Palisadians were middle-class, 25 percent were senior citizens, and the majority don’t have the money it will cost to rebuild. Unless there is some financial assistance, people will not be rushing to pay for plans to rebuild.
Can the town of Pacific Palisades incorporate and get away from all the mismanagement and stupidity of Los Angeles half baked politicians, who know nothing about running a city?
With all the millions of annual tax dollars paid by Palisades property owners, you’d think that Los Angeles would treat the Palisades better. One cop, and he’ll take 2 -3 hours to show up? Poorly paved (non paved) roads. The lack of water in the two reservoirs? The list goes on and on. Can the Palisades incorporate?
So we paid for a fire department that didn’t fight the fires. They, the government, allowed our community to burn to the ground and now they want fees for those to rebuild from the incompetence of the leadership. It’s all beyond comprehension how inept these people are and will they be surprised when half of the people don’t return?
Since the disastrous fire, we have overcome a LOT of bureaucracies, but it looks like we definitely have hit one….maybe the permit fees is a cash-cow for someone.
Maybe we should point out the property tax that completed rebuilding will yield much more revenue than permit fee assessment, if for no other reason, the former is annual whereas permit fees are one time only. But, then maybe the property tax has to be shared. Hmmm, I wonder if they have given the thought on fees vs. property tax.
All these programs for homelessness spend billons of unaccounted $$$, meanwhile citizens homeowners are being required to pay building permit costs for a fire catastrophe created due to poor management by the CITY OF LOS ANGELES. How about redirecting those $$$ to ease the economic pain caused by the City? Its like ‘ we burned you out and now we’re going to charge you for our mistakes! Absolutely unconscionable!
Liberal government? Liberal with what…..roadblocks, half-baked regulations, heavy badge building department Reps.? Flaccid leadership, and liars like Bass, “I will not leave Los Angeles if I’m elected…..unless it looks like a way to boost my national political standing and I can suck up to Biden…” Hopefully this quagmire is going to make Coastal California Red again.
Residents – You Have My Sympathy.
Hi Sue, Just wanted to say you are doing an incredible job exposing the corruption and incompetence while at the same time shedding a ray of sunlight and hope on our dismal situation caused by these political and appointed bastards.