Late Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order that aims to speed up the rebuilding of homes and businesses after wildfires tore through Pacific Palisades.
Academics, builders, consultants and other analysts who reviewed the order at The Times’ request said Bass’ move was an essential beginning to what will be an inevitably complicated process.
“Directionally, it’s exactly right,” said Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate. “It is precisely the type of steps that you would expect the city to undertake.”
Here’s what the mayor wants to do and potential pitfalls in the plans:
Get Rid of the Debris
The order calls for the city immediately to set up a debris-removal plan to clear properties of toxic materials, which is necessary before any rebuilding can occur. Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive of the California Building Industry Assn., said it was vital for the city to work quickly and comprehensively. Lots littered with hazardous items in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hampered recovery efforts there for years, he said.
“If they put that together, that’s actually a massive first step,” Dunmoyer said. “The framework is there for success.”
Issue Permits Within 30 Days for Those Who Want to Rebuild Their Homes and Businesses Like They Were Before
The order instructs all city departments to review building plans concurrently and complete them within 30 days of submission. This includes the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which often faces criticism for the time it takes to issue permits. If cleared, the city would then allow construction to commence.
This expedited timeline applies so long as property owners do not increase the size of their homes and businesses by more than 10%.
To help accomplish this 30-day goal, the city will set up a physical permitting center near the Palisades that will be staffed with representatives from all applicable departments seven days a week.
You Can Live on Your Property in the Meantime
Rebuilding residents will be able to set up recreational vehicles, tiny homes or other temporary residences to remain on their land for up to three years.
Housing Near Completion Now Will Be Expedited
Across the city, 22 multifamily developments with a total of 1,400 units are awaiting final sign off from city inspectors before they can open to residents. Bass’ order tells departments to provide temporary certificates of occupancy at those properties so that those units will come online faster. The hope is to help meet some of the soaring demand for rentals in the wake of the fires.
Joseph Cohen May, director of the Los Angeles Housing Production Institute, praised this change as needed with or without the emergency.
“We let finished buildings sit way too long before they can be occupied,” said Cohen May, who analyzes L.A. housing policies.
What’s Left Out
Among the biggest questions that remain is how the mayor will pay for this effort. Some analysts have attributed existing lengthy building permitting processes to understaffing.
Will timelines bog down when thousands of property owners try to submit plans at the same time? If the mayor shifts reviewers to the Palisades, as seems likely, what does that mean for permitting other housing in a city that already faced a severe shortage of available homes?
The same procedural and staffing questions face Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to fast-track rebuilding. The governor took his own executive action on Sunday waiving some state environmental laws and expediting debris removal.
Dunmoyer said Bass’ order formally aligns the two with the aim of rebuilding quicker than otherwise allowed.
“Having both the governor do the macro framework and the mayor do this, it now comes down to execution,” he said.
