Mayor Karen Bass has said that building fees will be waived by those impacted by the Palisades Fire.
In Mayor Karen Bass’ State of the City address on April 21, she said she is calling on the L.A. City Council to pass an ordinance to waive all plan check and permit fees so that rebuilding could be streamlined in Pacific Palisades.
CTN emailed the Mayor’s office after the speech and asked for the timeline for fees to be waived.
Bass’ office responded in an April 22 email “Mayor Bass will issue an Executive Directive that directs relevant City departments to work with the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance to waive all permit-related fees to rebuild structures damaged or destroyed in the fires for Council’s consideration. This will be supported by a report by the City Administrative Officer (CAO) and other relevant departments with recommendations to City Council.”
No timeline. How do residents rebuild if 1) they don’t have enough insurance money and 2) they don’t know the cost of City building fees. CTN has been told those fees could be between $40,000 and $80,000, depending on the property.
It goes back to the movie Jerry Maguire: Show Me the Money. Residents need actual proof that fees will be waived. The Mayor needs to prioritize this issue and get fee waivers on the books.
During her speech, Bass also issued two executive orders: self-certification and using artificial intelligence to review project plans.
SELF-CERTIFICATION:
This a pilot program focuses on Pacific Palisades rebuilding. Qualified architects can self-certify that their plans meet the California Residential Code. That means these plans will no longer require a plan check. But, after construction the buildings will be inspected for code compliance.
TECHNOLOGY:
This would also be a pilot program, using artificial intelligence technology to support City staff review of project plans against building and zoning codes – supposedly saving time in the rebuild process.
OTHER EXECUTIVE ORDERS:
A link to an April 16,Inter-Departmental Correspondence, provides additional guidelines and is titled “Implementation Guidelines for Revised Emergency Executive Order No. 1: Expedited Community Rebuilding and Recovery” click here.
On pages 9 and 10, plan check fees, permit fees, LAUSD fees and linkage fees are not listed as forgiven.
On April 17, the Department of Building and Safety released information about submitting Geotechnical and Soils Report. The bulletin identifies two separate geologically sensitive zones that are either on or next to steep slopes or potential landslide areas. Before rebuilding, those areas will require a Geotechnical and Soils Report to be submitted to the Grading Division for review click here.
The Mayor passed the buck on waiving fees to the city council; now, Traci Park and our community will need to convince a majority of Councilpersons that those fees ought to be waived. Anyone think that there will NOT be politicking and grandstanding around that vote?
I suspect that the self-certification program will take months, if not years to get off the ground. And to think that the City of LA can implement AI plan check? C’mon, who is she kidding?
The fees waiver proposal needs to be submitted and approved NOW. Three months is ample time to consult and perform due diligence. So,…..when Madame Mayor?
It would be helpful to know if these and future decisions also apply to multifamily buildings. Thank you!