Viewpoint on Building Permit Fee Waivers: City Council to Vote Dec. 2
By Sue Pascoe
Courtesy of Circling the News
Pacific Palisades residents need to attend the L.A. City Council Meeting at City Hall at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, to speak during public comment urging the council to adopt Mayor Karen Bass Executive Order to waive permit fees for rebuilding.
The meeting will be held at the John Ferraro Council Chamber, Room 340 City Hall, 200 North Spring Street, L.A. Ca. 90012. (For a parking pass from Councilmember Traci Park, call 213-473-7011 before 9:30 tomorrow, Dec. 2. Have the make of the car, the model and the license plate available.)
To recap, in April, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass signed an executive order that waived permit fees. Many Palisades residents assumed it was a done deal but did not realize that the City Council has to give final approval.
On Oct. 14, the City Budget and Finance Committee met, and the five-member council did not seem to be receptive to waiving fees. That committee was told that the loss of fees would be significant to the city and that those fees pay the salaries for the Department of Building and Safety (DBS) staff.
The committee finally agreed to recommend waiving only building permit fees associated with repair or reconstruction of single-family residences and duplexes, damaged or destroyed up to 110 percent of the original structure.
That motion is now item 23 on the agenda for Dec. 2.
In making comments, one might consider:
People do not have the money to rebuild and there is trouble getting money from insurance. City permit fees could range between $40,000 and $95,000 and would not allow some to rebuild.
DBS staff size is the same as it was before the fire. Extra people have not been hired, and it should not be the responsibility of those who have lost homes to be responsible for fees.
If people knew fees would be waived, they would be more likely to rebuild, and once that happens the city will have an increased tax base.
It is important in your comments to emphasize that homes in the Palisades are generational, and the majority of us living here are not super wealthy.
The following letter [from a reader who lost their home in the fire] was sent to Circling the News:
My property at 650 Lachman Lane was purchased in 1995…. My pre-fire home was 2,300 square feet. My neighbor at 656 Lachman had a home rebuilt in 2017 of 5,959 sq ft on the same size lot. It was a beautiful home. Under the 110% cap, I would be limited to 2,530 square feet for fee waiver eligibility. I am considering rebuilding a 4,300 square foot home, much less than my neighbor, with a project valuation of ~$4,000,000.
This means the arbitrary size restriction would exclude me from fee waivers, despite my intent to invest $4 million in rebuilding our community with state-of-the-art, fire-resistant construction.
Here is the critical problem: because my planned rebuild exceeds the 110% threshold, I would lose the fee waiver for the entire $4,000,000 project. I would be required to pay the full $55,000 – $95,000 in building permit fees, despite being a fire victim, simply because I am rebuilding 1,770 square feet larger than the arbitrary cap allows.
This cap effectively punishes me for not having expanded my home before the fires. Had I built an addition years ago like my neighbor at 656 Lachman, I would qualify for full-fee waivers on a much larger rebuild under this legislation and implementation policy.
My neighbor who had already expanded beyond 3,900 square feet can rebuild with full waivers, while I cannot rebuild 4,300 square feet without paying full fees. This is fundamentally unfair and discourages the kind of substantial investment in fire-resistant construction benefiting the entire City of Los Angeles.
Economic Consequences for the City of Los Angeles:
By capping reconstruction at 110% of January 7, 2025 building envelopes, the City of Los Angeles artificially limits future property tax revenue. The economics of my rebuild illustrate why unrestricted rebuilding serves the City of Los Angeles’ fiscal interests:
Permit fees waived: $55,000 – $95,000 (one-time cost to the City of Los Angeles)
Annual property tax generated: $40,000 – $50,000 (ongoing revenue from $4M property)
Construction sales tax generated: $30,000 – $50,000 (immediate revenue)
Compare this to what the City of Los Angeles would collect if I’m discouraged from building the full 4,300 square feet:
A 2,530 square foot rebuild (110% cap) valued at approximately $2.2M would generate only $22,000 – $28,000 annually in property tax
Lost annual revenue: $18,000 – $22,000 per year
Lost 30-year revenue: $540,000 – $660,000
The City of Los Angeles recovers the full waived fees in just 1-2 years through property tax revenue from an unrestricted rebuild, while gaining decades of enhanced tax base, more efficient homes, lower greenhouse gases, and untold benefits to the entire City of Los Angeles. The 110% cap doesn’t protect city revenues—it sacrifices them. Multiply this across hundreds of rebuilding properties, and the long-term revenue loss becomes staggering.
This single property demonstrates why fee waivers without arbitrary size caps represent sound fiscal policy. The City of Los Angeles cannot afford to leave this revenue on the table by creating disincentives to code compliant reconstruction.
[Note from Canyon News editor: City Councilwoman Traci Park sent out an email today that states, “Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., the full City Council will hear and vote on my motion to waive rebuild permit fees for fire-impacted victims. Public comment for this item was already taken in committee, but residents will still have one minute each to speak under General Public Comment. If you can to make it downtown, your presence matters! Hearing directly from Pacific Palisades residents—those of you living through this—will help underscore why the fee waiver is essential to rebuilding homes and restoring your community.”
A short video from Park about this issue is here.
The Pacific Palisades Community Council also sent out an email that the PPCC “and numerous community leaders have submitted letters supporting fee waivers for all Palisades projects, including multi-family. See PPCC Letter #1, Letter #2 and Leaders Letter. Written comments can be submitted to the City Council at the Comment Portal (enter Council File No. 25-0006-S57).]
