The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday sent back to committee a proposal to waive permit fees for residents impacted by January\u2019s wildfires, citing concerns with balancing what they described as a responsibility to fire survivors and fiscal solvency.<\/p>\n
In April, Mayor Karen Bass ordered city departments to refrain from collecting permit and plan check fees associated with the repair or reconstruction of homes damaged or destroyed by the wildfires \u2014 pending City Council action to waive the fees. The mayor\u2019s order asked the city attorney to prepare and present an ordinance to the council, codifying the ability to waive fees.<\/p>\n
Bass\u2019 emergency executive order aimed to further a motion introduced by Councilwoman Traci Park, who called for a waiver of the fees in the immediate aftermath of the Palisades Fire.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the City Council was expected to vote on the proposed ordinance, but conflicting perspectives stalled the effort. There were two proposals on the table \u2014 one from the Budget and Finance Committee and another from the Ad Hoc Committee on Fire Recovery.<\/p>\n
The Budget Committee recommended a proposal aligned with Bass\u2019 order, expediting repairs, restoration, demolition or replacement of property damaged by January\u2019s wildfires for \u201celigible projects,\u201d defined as repair or rebuild projects within 110% of the original footprint and for the same use.<\/p>\n
The cost of that proposal stood at more than $86 million \u2014 for only single family-homes and duplexes, according to a report from the City Administrative Office.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the proposal recommended by the ad hoc committee would cover single-family homes, duplexes, as well as condos, mobile park homes, multi-unit apartments, and commercial buildings. City officials estimated that proposal would cost anywhere from $86 million to $278 million.<\/p>\n
Both estimates could get higher after calculating the cost of borrowing, officials said.<\/p>\n
Some council members raised concerns about covering the cost, potential redeveloping, and ensuring outside parties do not take advantage of the proposed program.<\/p>\n
Councilman Bob Blumenfield, a member of the Budget Committee, said he was \u201cvery sympathetic\u201d toward fire survivors, adding that the council needs to do what it to help them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fee waiver concept is a tricky one because there\u2019s really no such thing. It just means the general fund is paying those fees because it\u2019s a fee for service,\u201d Blumenfield said.<\/p>\n
He noted that $86 million used for the fees and permits would come out of other city services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to go ahead and spend that $86 million on folks who have lost their homes and allow them to rebuild, but to rebuild what they lost, which is, under the executive order one means not just 100% but up to 110%, and I think that is fair,\u201d Blumenfield said.<\/p>\n
Councilman Adrian Nazarian also proposed providing a pro rata rate \u2014 a method of allocating fee waivers fairly \u2014 for property owners looking to build larger, allowing individuals to take advantage of not having to pay up to 110% in permit fees, and paying whatever is left.<\/p>\n
Several council members backed the Budget Committee\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n
Park, who leads the Ad Hoc Committee for LA Recovery and represents Pacific Palisades, received support to modify the Budget Committee\u2019s plan. She requested a cost analysis of waiving fees for all other buildings \u2014 not just single-family homes and duplexes \u2014 as well as to consider removing the 110% threshold.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a critical issue, critically important issue, for so many people,\u201d Park said. \u201cColleagues, just a basic reminder, absolutely nothing about this rebuild is voluntary. Not for anyone who lost home or their property on Jan. 7.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe owe it to them to take care of them just because it\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d Park added.<\/p>\n
She recognized the fiscal concerns, but emphasized that the idea of restricting fee waivers to single family homes and duplexes repeats a falsehood that Pacific Palisades is an island of affluence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should not be picking winners and losers,\u201d Park said. \u201cI think the only thing that we really can do here is to stand up for victims, victims who, through no fault of their own, have had everything stolen from them in this catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, chair of the Budget Committee, echoed Blumenfield\u2019s comments. She noted the city is at least $80 million in \u201cthe hole\u201d for this fiscal year so far, citing figures from the first financial status report.<\/p>\n
As committee chair, she vowed to hear the overall proposal and changes at its next possible meeting.<\/p>\n
Park ultimately asked for the matter to go back to the Budget Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be ad hocking this; piecemealing these decisions. This really needs to go and be considered as a comprehensive package of relief for our disaster victims,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n
A group of Pacific Palisades fire survivors joined Tuesday\u2019s meeting, and supported Park\u2019s plan to waive fees for all buildings.<\/p>\n
Sue Kohl, president of Pacific Palisades Community Council, urged the council to waive permits and fees for rebuilding efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy house burned down, as did pretty much everyone I know lost everything. I have been working my entire life and now have been forced to take retirement savings to help pay to build back a house,\u201d Kohl said. \u201cI have no desire for a new house. I love my hold house, funky as it was. I would take it any day of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy request to all of you is to please, please put yourself in our shoes and try and think what it would feel like to have lost everything you\u2019ve ever owned in your life\u2026 and have to go back,\u201d Kohl added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday sent back to committee a proposal to waive permit fees for residents…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":344486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,196602,6283,29096,5025,2961,224,5337,17466,28086,3314,196603],"class_list":{"0":"post-420819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-considers","11":"tag-council","12":"tag-fees","13":"tag-fire","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-palisades","18":"tag-permit","19":"tag-survivors","20":"tag-waiving"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115653260428131322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}