24-07-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Karen Bass signs orders to aid rebuilding in Pacific Palisades
Story Highlights Mayor Karen Bass issues two executive actions to expedite rebuilding in the Palisades.
Emergency Executive Order 8 streamlines permitting for larger home rebuilds.
Executive Directive 13 creates preapproved design library for rebuilding homes.
Los Angeles is launching two new actions to speed up rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades.
Mayor Karen Bass issued two executive actions this week to expedite the rebuilding process in the L.A. neighborhood that was ravaged by January's wildfires: Emergency Executive Order 8 and Executive Directive 13.
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Emergency Executive Order 8 will continue the city's efforts to streamline the permitting process for homeowners looking to rebuild homes larger than those damaged. The order expands the scope of single-family home projects eligible for the state's emergency suspension of the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act.
By waiving local Coastal Act review processes, 'as long as common-sense streamlined environmental protections are in place,' the order aims to create an expanded pathway for the rebuilding of single-family homes in the Coastal Zone that do not qualify as 'like-for-like,' which are projects with structures of the same size, in the same location and for the same purpose as the previous structures that were damaged or destroyed by the fire.
The order adds to the streamlined processes established in Emergency Executive Order 1, signed by Bass less than a week after the start of the wildfires.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 130, which creates a new class of residential development that doesn't require review under CEQA, which often delays development in California.
The other initiative, Executive Directive 13, will launch a pilot program for single-family homes, creating a virtual library of preapproved, code-compliant designs to fast-track rebuild projects available for the public. The city plans to issue an open call to architects and building professionals for designs.
The city reported that debris removal in the Palisades is more than 85% complete, which Bass said puts Los Angeles' recovery after the fires 'on track to be the fastest in modern California history.' Nearly 300 rebuilding plans have been approved by the city.
'With debris removal months ahead of expectations, construction underway and new action taken today to further streamline the rebuilding process, we continue to push forward in our all out effort to get families home,' Bass said in a statement.
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