Mayor Karen Bass Thursday touted what she called a new milestone in efforts to fast-track rebuilding in Pacific Palisades, highlighting the first approvals under a pilot program for single-family homes.
Bass established the initiative, called Standard Plan Pilot Program, through her 13th executive directive. The program provides a library of pre- approved, code-compliant single-family home designs -- which is intended to reduce permitting time and cost, as well as uncertainty for homeowners, builders and architects rebuilding in Pacific Palisades, according to her office.
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"The city of Los Angeles remains laser-focused on expediting the rebuilding of homes, businesses, and community spaces in the Palisades to get families home, no matter what it takes," Bass said in a statement.
"The city's Standard Plan Pilot Program is just one of many tools now available to residents to fast-track the plan check process and get them home sooner," she added.
With the first plans now approved, homeowners can choose from a set of pre-approved designs already reviewed by the Department of Building and Safety for full code compliance. If homeowners move forward with any of these plans, it is expected to significantly cut time off compared to the traditional review process.
The list of pre-approved designs are expected to grow, and uploaded to the library on a rolling basis.
To date, more than 1,200 rebuilding plans have been approved for more than 600 addresses in Pacific Palisades, Bass' office reported. More than 1,000 permits have been issued for roughly 515 addresses with hundreds of rebuilding plans currently under review, officials added.
Bass touted that as a result of emergency executive action she has taken, Palisades rebuilding permits are being approved "nearly three times faster" than typical single-family home projects before January's wildfires, and more than 70% of single-family permit clearances are no longer required.
City officials reported more than 340 projects are confirmed to have started construction.
The latest permitting numbers for the city are updated hourly and can be found at recovery.lacity.gov/.
State officials also launched an online dashboard showing permits issued for the L.A. County and city, Malibu and Pasadena, which is also updated daily, which can be found at www.ca.gov/lafires/rebuilding-la/.
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