Houses With Planning Dept OK Are Still Stuck Getting Safety Permit Reviews To Rebuild
Written by 991KBU on February 5, 2019
The City of Malibu planning department has okayed 15 permits so far … for temporary housing on burned-out lots from the Woolsey Fire in Malibu.
And with 15 applications filed so far … 15 approved should be good news … right???
Not quite.
There’s the regular bottleneck in the city building safety plan check system … which continues to hold up construction … just like it always has.
City bureaucrats made that confession during last nights planning commission meeting.
You see .. once a plan gets approved at the Planning Department … it goes over to Building Safety.
And the building safety plan check process means taking those plans to four separate desks at the city for geological … septic tank … fire department and other review.
If one department makes a change … the plans have to start all over again … they go back to the other departments for re-review.
And if the plans have to be substantially changed … they have to go back to the planning department for approval there.
None of this is done electronically .. All of it means making appointments and waiting in line.
Plans to modernize and streamline the system … to put it on computers … they have been around for years.
But they are all on hold due to the fire.
So far … the Planning Department has okayed all 15 of the requests for temporary housing permits … for trailers or modular homes on burned out lots.
But none of those have emerged from the Building Safety plan checks with their OK to start construction.
As far as blueprints to rebuild burned down houses … with the same set of plans … no major changes … 20 requests have been filed at the Planning Department.
Again … all 20 have been approved and sent over top Building Safety for plan check.
None of them have the plan checks finished.
Now … in terms of demolition permits … a little progress is reported.
39 people have decided to go it on their own … demolishing their own properties … and have their permits to haul stuff off.
That’s out of the 105 property owners who have opted out of the county government joint demolition program … which by the way is supposed to be underway today with heavy demolition scheduled.
On hundred 98 Malibu residents have opted in … to the county debris removal program.
Add that up … and that’s about 303 homeowners.
That leaves about 100 homeowners who have have not opted in … not opted out … they have decided nothing.
The deadline is 10 days.
After that … the county will wait and then it will bulldoze the burned houses … and send a huge bill to the landowner.
And that landowner may just walk away …. letting the property sit vacant and possibly eventually be sold for back taxes.
We’re talking about 100 or so residential lots in Malibu in the category.
