The City of Los Angeles has opened a Fire Rebuild Permit Center in West Los Angeles providing a one-stop location for anyone who needs permits to replace structures lost in the Palisades wildfire. The permit center is located at 1828 Sawtelle Boulevard in West Los Angeles. The permit center is open 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays and 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekends. According to the City, walk-ins are welcome, but they request appointments be made for a case filing.

The permit center is scheduled to be staffed with representatives from the following City Departments: City Planning, Building and Safety, Recreation and Parks, Transportation, Water and Power, Public Works, Fire, and Housing.

The rebuild projects that are eligible for the one-stop permit center are those structures that need to be repaired, demolished, or replaced that were substantially damaged or destroyed by the Palisades wildfire and meet all of the following requirements:

• is in substantially the same location as it existed immediately prior to the wildfires;
• the replacement does not exceed 110% of the floor area, height, and bulk of the structure existing immediately prior to the wildfires;
• it is for the same use as the last use of the structure prior to the wildfires.

The City offers an expedited approval process. Initial plan checks are expected to be completed within 30 days of project submittal. Inspections by Building and Safety are expected to be conducted within two business days of a submitted request.

A few other notes about the rebuilding process in the City of Los Angeles:

• Grading pre-inspections and demolition pre-inspections are being waived, unless the site has deep footings, retaining walls or other features that would require a pre-inspection.
• Soils reports and approval letters up to 10 years old will be accepted.
• Projects are exempt from some discretionary permit requirements such as, design review and conditional use permits.
• Projects are not required to comply with the City’s all-electric building code.

The State of California previously suspended the California Coastal Act and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) permitting requirements to support rebuilding efforts.