Ten Ideas for Rebuilding the Pacific Palisades

One Month on From the Fires - Progress, Hope, and Still More Challenges

There is no shortage of challenges to rebuilding the Pacific Palisades. The task ahead is absolutely daunting.¹ This is especially true of the stated goal of returning the elderly and non-wealthy residents of the Pacific Palisades, who cannot easily rebuild.²

Some would like to use the tragedy of the fire as an opportunity to make wholesale changes to the zoning code and rebuild the neighborhood in the mold of their ideal 15-minute city where extremely dense housing with reserved affordable housing set-aside units would line car-less streets.

However, I think those discussions are wholly inappropriate at this time.

To quote gay Instagram/Tik Tok star and fashion model A.J. Sanchez, “Don’t get it twisted. On a scale of one to classy, I’m not giving royal family by any means. I like to turn out, shake my ass, and have a good time. But [people], time and place! And [this] [is] not it!”³

This advice is fully applicable to any proposed discussions about up-zoning or rezoning the Pacific Palisades. This is neither the time nor the place. I’ll even admit that I have some of my own city wide zoning change ideas that would apply to the Palisades. Those ideas can wait.

The current focus must be on making fire victims whole and returning them home. Not on making changes that will lead to community infighting, slow down recovery, and further prevent people from rebuilding their homes and businesses.⁴

The recovery is also not a time for extremely wealthy and seemingly narcissistic individuals seeking personal political power to start trying to undercut government relief efforts.

It’s one thing to offer one’s vast resources to contribute to the rebuilding effort. It’s another to use this is an opportunity for self-promotion and self-aggrandizement. The former is true leadership, the latter is not (it’s just downright pathetic).

As someone who has worked extensively in politics, I understand the desire of some individuals to use a situation like this in order to boost their political profile. However, to once again quote Mr. Sanchez, “time and place!”

Recently, at a recovery forum for fire victims, a family friend who had sadly lost his home in the Palisades was interviewed by local reporters. He’s an extremely wealthy and successful real estate developer who’s long been active in Democratic politics.

I don’t recall who he supported in the 2022 Mayoral election (it could have been either candidate) but the truth is, it’s irrelevant.

In that news interview, he didn’t push a political agenda. His main focus was on promoting his hardworking gardener, a small businessman, who had lost most of his business due to the fires. He raised awareness about the harm suffered by housekeepers, gardeners, and other similar workers and the need to help them. He understood that this is a time for leadership, not politics.

The good news is that there has been tremendous progress on recovery already.

• The city has cleared the streets of the Pacific Palisades of debris months ahead of schedule.

• The city has completed its investigations of all 15,000 structures in the Pacific Palisades.

• The EPA has made substantial progress clearing out toxic waste and is likely to be finished by the end of the month.

• The California Community Foundation is helping provide payments to low wage workers, especially housekeepers who lost their jobs.

• The annual Fourth of July Parade and annual 5k race will go on as previously scheduled albeit at different locations.

On Friday, Mayor Karen Bass announced that she would open a one-stop-shop permitting office this week for residents where all twelve city building departments will be present. This will enable residents to have one place to go to submit re-building plans and make it easy to resolve any permitting issues.

Her previously issued executive order has directed that rebuilding residents will only have to submit one plan to all departments and plans will be automatically approved within thirty days so long as it is conforming.⁵ It also waives the electric appliance hookup requirement. This center hopefully will effectuate that order.

There are more things to be done though. For Angelenos who don’t live in the Palisades, the rebuilding of that neighborhood (and the unincorporated community of Altadena) are both policy and moral imperatives. In the words of

Andrea J.

in The Story of Wine in Altadena, “Our communities need each other more than ever now.”

With that in mind, here are a few ideas for helping the rebuilding effort that should be considered.

1. Tax Cuts for Those who Rebuild and Repair Homes for Returning Residents

   
   The government should encourage contracting firms that rebuild complete homes and repair buildings within the Pacific Palisades. Construction is a business of course and those who rebuild and repair homes are normally taxed on the income they earn. In the service of rebuilding and repairing within the burn area, they should be allowed to keep more of that income.
   

2. Tax Waivers for Construction Firms who Rebuild and Repair Homes for Returning Residents Within a Record Time Period

   
   Chief Recovery Officer Steve Soboroff has been blunt about the length of time required to build a home, saying it will be 2 years for some, up to 5 years for others. However, he has pointed out that when he built Staples Center, it took only 18 months to construct.

   It has been 25 years since the construction of Staples Center (it’s now officially known as the Crypto Arena though most Angelenos refuse to call it by that name). There have been continual improvements in building technology since then. In Changsha, China, a ten story building was constructed in 28 hours and 45 minutes, and a 57 story tower was built in 19 days.⁶
   
   Staples Center is also 950,000 square feet. Homes that residents are seeking to rebuilt are far smaller (even the largest mansions).

   Contractors should be rewarded for the quick finish of homes from the issuance of a building permit when it is for returning residents. I’m not a construction expert so I am unsure what that time frame should be. I imagine that it will depend upon the size of the home and there may need to be schedules.
   
   But let’s suppose for a home of 5,000 square feet or less, the benchmark is six months from the issuance of a building permit. Under that benchmark, if a contractor finishes the home in that time or less, provided the building is safe for occupancy, they ought to have their income tax from the project waved altogether.
   

3. Bulk Purchases of Building Materials by the City

   
   Building materials are expensive. They are likely to become even more expensive with Trump’s tariffs. The city should consider mass purchase building materials to save total cost. They could then resell these materials at a discount to those rebuilding homes in the Pacific Palisades.

4. Rebuilding Concierges

   
   No matter the improvements to process, executive orders by elected officials, and legislation, there will be governmental inefficiency and problems that arise for those attempting to rebuild. In a free society with clean, non-corrupt government, that’s as inevitable as death and taxes.

   With the philanthropic efforts raising mass amounts of money for the rebuilding, we should consider hiring individuals experienced in government bureaucracy for each separate neighborhood of the Palisades, plus one or two to be available for the small businesses seeking to rebuild.

   They would be personally available for residents for bureaucratic snafus and would handle all problems with all local and state agencies related to building as well as answer general questions. They can also provide information on new programs for residents. With a one stop shop for permitting, it will be far less difficult to train Rebuilding Concierges and regularly brief them.
   

5. Waiving Filming Fees for Entertainment Programs Documenting Charitable Rebuilding for Displaced Residents

   
   If I worked at HGTV and was asked for an idea, I would suggest the following new television show special. I would have a show that built dream homes for displaced fire victims who are otherwise not able to rebuild their homes barring a miracle.
   
   The fire victims in mind would be the elderly residents (particularly those who are veterans or retired after serving decades of faithful public servants) and those who learned their fire insurance policy had been cancelled right before the fire and not yet been able to obtain new insurance.
   
   A show would bring in the leading HGTV stars - the architects, the designers, the landscape architects, the construction workers - and build a brand new dream home for these deserving individuals.

   
   Any television program like this, whether on HGTV or any other network, would be subject to filming fees. The city ought to waive them. As long as a show is for the charitable purpose of enabling a resident to return to their home, the city should encourage it.
   

6. Grant Programs for Rebuilding
   

   For fire victims who are below a certain income level and will not have the full cost of rebuilding their home covered by insurance, we should consider creating a grant program for them to rebuild their homes. We could also require that those taking advantage of this program live in their rebuilt home for a certain minimum period so to avoid unfair enrichment.

7. Undergrounding All Power Lines
   
   One of the most obvious wildfire prevention and mitigation strategies we can undertake is to bury all our above ground power lines. While doing so would not prevent all future wildfires, it would certainly mitigate damage from future wildfires. This is an expensive process. Some suggest that it is simply too expensive for the city to do, which is currently cash-strapped.
   
   There are two options for accomplishing this goal.
   
   First, the city could try and obtain funds from the newly passed statewide climate bond in 2024. Global climate change is why we are now experiencing these unprecedented weather events (wildfires outside of fire season with 100 mile per hour hurricane force winds).
   
   Second, if that’s not available, here would be an appropriate time for a bond measure to underground our city’s powerlines - not just in Pacific Palisades but in all areas covered by the high fire severity zone.
   
   The Los Angeles Fire Department has a public map of all areas of Los Angeles that fall within the high fire severity zone:

   
   https://lafd.org/fire-prevention/brush/fire-zone/fire-zone-map

   
   As you can see from the map, the high fire severity zone does not just include the entirety of the Pacific Palisades but dozens of neighborhoods across Los Angeles.⁷ Dodger Stadium, the Hollywood Bowl, the Griffith Observatory, and the Hollywood sign are among the landmark locations that are within it.
   
   This is one of the reasons why I have not been an armchair quarterback critic of the LAFD’s response. As bad this fire was, it had the potential to be far worse at an even greater magnitude. Indeed, wildfires broke out in these locations and the LAFD put them out with no casualties or damage at all. Even in the Pacific Palisades, the LAFD was able to hold back the fire at Amalfi Drive.
   
   But what if it hadn’t? What if high winds had grounded our air fleet during the Sunset Fire? If there is a need for money and a citywide bond required, we ought to do this for all neighborhoods in the high fire severity zone.
   
   There’s an expression so overly used by politicians that it’s become something of a joke. “We can’t afford not to do this!”
   
   Here though, it’s definitely true. The cost of undergrounding our power lines is far outweighed by the cost of wildfire damage.
   

8. Japanese Style Sprinkler Defense Systems
   
   I was struck by a fire prevention system in Japan that prevented an ancient village from burning to the ground.⁸ It seems like something that could be implemented in LA’s high fire zones as a future backup when we cannot fly our air fleet due to hurricane level winds and wildfires are threatening neighborhoods across the city.

9. Building a new Fire Station in the Palisades Highlands

   
   The Palisades Highlands is almost a different neighborhood from the rest of the Pacific Palisades. It was first developed back in the 1970s (over the objection of environmentalists⁹) and sits on top of the Santa Monica Mountains at the western edge of the city.¹⁰ There are thousands of residences there including townhomes and some large multi-family apartment buildings.
   
   There is only one public roadway heading in or out. It’s a long road that travels through Topanga State Park. Fire Station 23, the nearest fire station, is 2.1 miles away from the nearest structures in the Palisades Highlands. This is perhaps normally not a problem but the issues from the Palisades Fire show the danger.
   
   During the fire, escaping residents trying to escape all at once got trapped on the roadway and had to abandon their cars. The LAFD then had to spend time bulldozing cars to clear the road so that firefighters could get to the fire. This undoubtedly slowed down the response to the fire and allowed it to get further out of control.
   
   Having a separate fire station at the top of the Palisades Highlands would not have prevented the Palisades Fire or even necessarily saved all the structures. But it would have mitigated the damage from the current one.
   

10. Implementing a Right of Return for Apartment Dwellers for Rebuilt Apartments
    
    One of the exceptions to the disastrous Measure ULA (erroneously known as the “Mansion Tax”), an unconstitutional tax that should be struck down by the courts, is that affordable housing development is exempt. Some owners of large apartment complexes may wish to sell their lots to affordable housing developers.
    
    This would be welcome news. But those who lived there previously should be allowed the right of first refusal to live where they once did once these locations are rebuilt. Affordable housing should not be used to permanently displace residents who lost rental apartments in the fires.

I’m not wed to any of these ideas. But they are at least worth considering as the rebuilding of the Pacific Palisades is underway. We will rebuild.

1. The author of this article is an attorney licensed to practice in the State of California and the District of Columbia. This article and all of the works on this Substack page are statements of the opinions of the author, only, and do not constitute legal advice; they are not intended to be relied upon by any individual or entity in any transaction or other legal matter, past, pending, or future. A paid subscription to this Substack page supports the author’s scholarship and provides access to research that the author has compiled, but does not establish an attorney-client relationship. The author does not accept unsolicited requests for legal advice or representation, and this Substack page is not intended as legal advertising. The opinions expressed on this Substack page reflect the personal views of the author only.

2. While the ideas here are Pacific Palisades centered because I’m a City of Los Angeles resident, they also can be used for Altadena, an unincorporated community within Los Angeles County that suffered great devastation from the recent Eaton Fire, which also broke out on the same day as the Palisades Fire.

3.

@_ajtsanchezDoing the most.. and not in a good way 🏳️‍🌈

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4. The only land use requirement that I would impose at the moment are that lots that previously had apartment complexes before the fire should not be allowed to be repurposed. That will only exacerbate the current housing crisis. Those should have to be rebuilt as they were at minimum.

5. https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/mayor-bass-issues-sweeping-executive-order-clear-way-angelenos-rebuild-their-homes-fast

6. https://www.infurnia.com/blog/5-fastest-building-construction

7. Neighborhoods wholly or partially included are: Brentwood, Bel Air, Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills Post Office/Beverly Crest, Sunset Hills, Laurel Canyon, Hollywood Hills, Loz Feliz, Silverlake, Beverly Glen, Mount Olympus, Echo Park, Elysian Park, Mount Washington, Eagle Rock, Montecito Heights, Glassell Park, Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Highland Park, Baldwin Vista, Playa Vista, El Sereno, Playa Del Rey, Westchester, Sunland, Tujunga, Shadow Hills, Granada Hills, Lake View Terrace, Sylmar, Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, and West Hills.

8. https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2020/10/water-hose-festival-japan/

9. https://palisadesnews.com/palisades-highlands-street-names/

10. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-07-14-me-6412-story.html