Rebuilding a home burned to the ground by the Eaton fire takes permits issued separately from at least four Los Angeles County departments.
Even if it were just a few requests, the bureaucracy is formidable. When anticipating permits for a maximum of nearly 7,000 homes destroyed in the Jan. 7-Jan. 8 firestorm in unincorporated Altadena, that can create a paperwork logjam the size of a month’s worth of traffic on the 210 Freeway.
To clear the way, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in early March brought the permitting team to Altadena, creating the One-Stop Recovery Permitting Center in an empty building at 464 W. Woodbury Road, Suite 210 in Altadena.
But even with the one-stop shop humming along, the bureaucracy was still winning. No rebuild permits have been issued in Altadena as of Tuesday morning, April 8, three months to date after the fire, reported Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district includes Altadena.
Barger called the situation “unacceptable,” said the deliberate activity was spoiling the dreams of Altadena residents wanting to rebuild their homes.
“I’ve been keeping a close eye on the county’s one-stop permitting shop and to be candid — I’m not satisfied with the pace,” said Barger.
Along with Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, the two received approval of their motion from the board on Tuesday that will supercharge the one-stop shop by creating a permit czar.
Known as the Unified Permitting Authority or UPA, the czar can approve permits by pushing past inter-departmental paperwork clashes, solving code overlaps and removing staffing bottlenecks that jams the rebuild permit highway.
In short, when permit forms are filled out, even the one-stop shop was well, stopped from getting results. For example, it needed to ask for approvals from the county departments of Regional Planning, Public Health, Fire and Public Works. This caused delays, Barger said.
“Today’s motion will cut through the red tape to get my Altadena constituents back on track to rebuilding faster. We don’t have time to waste,” Barger added.
In about 30 days, the county’s Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport will have a report back to the board naming the UPA, who can make final decisions on residential rebuilding permit applications from the one-stop center, according to the motion.
This permit czar will be deputized with all authority from the four departments in the form of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) from all four, giving the UPA authority to make binding decisions, solve inter-departmental conflicts in real time and basically remove all permitting roadblocks.
“By formally delegating limited emergency decision-making authority to a designated Unified Permitting Authority, the County can eliminate bottlenecks and ensure consistent, timely approvals — without compromising health and safety or code compliance,” read the motion.
In addition, the two supervisors asked for a public display on county websites on the progress of the rebuild permitting process.
For example, late Tuesday afternoon, the county reported its first approval of a rebuilding permit in Altadena. It was for a home to be built by the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity on Olive Street.
Barger said once the UPA is approved next month, more permits, especially those from homeowners who came back to nothing but ashes and want to rebuild and move back to the historic, unincorporated community north of Pasadena.
“That would be awesome,” said Heather Mcalpine whose cottage burned down in the fire. Though she’s a renter, she wants to move back into the area, she said on Tuesday. That is not possible until more people get their houses rebuilt and move back. Until then, much of Altadena is a ghost town, with nobody there and darkness pervading the town at night.
The sluggish permitting process comes in contrast to the expedited clearance of debris from properties. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is removing debris and trucking it to landfills, reported to the county it has cleared more than 900 properties in the Eaton fire zone.
The Army Corps has been completing property debris removal “at an unprecedented pace and is well ahead of schedule,” the county reported.
While the feeling is generally positive, some still have issues with the job the Army Corps has done and are awaiting for proper completion before they can start the rebuilding process.
Bill Wentzel, 69, and his husband, Martin Lo, 72, lost their home on Skywood Circle. They are looking into rebuilding. Wentzel has visited the One-Stop Permitting Center for advice, where walk-ins are welcome and appointments can be scheduled at recovery.lacounty.gov.
Wentzel said it’s good the one-stop center is so close by and he does not have to go to Downtown LA or Alhambra, where the Public Works Department is located, to chase permits.
However, the Army Corps did not remove two trees on his property that should have been part of the clearing. “They skipped over them. The trees are dead — both trees got roasted,” he said.
Horvath said the UPA working within the Altadena One-Stop Permitting Center is modeled after a similar one created to help property owners after the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which burned about 100,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, destroyed 1,600 structures and killed three people.
“(It) stands as a proven model of what’s possible when we prioritize people over red tape,” she said.