Only 68 Building Permits Issued for Pacific Palisades After Wildfires Destroyed 6800 Structures

Only 68 Building Permits Issued for Pacific Palisades After Wildfires Destroyed 6800 Structures

California continues to be a man-caused disaster zone.

Six months ago, wildfires roared through swaths of the greater Los Angeles area. The last time I reported on the area’s recovery efforts, only four rebuilding permits had been issued. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also led a delegation to Sacramento to request nearly $2 billion in state funding to aid the city amid a projected $1 billion budget deficit for the next fiscal year.

According to Team Bass, the budget crisis is primarily due to January’s wildfires but is also coupled with lower-than-anticipated tax revenues and rising costs associated with new labor contracts.

California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly rejected the idea shortly after it was presented. In fact, the request was deemed a “nonstarter.”

“The state’s not in a position to write a check,” Newsom said. “When you’re requesting things that have nothing to do with disaster recovery, that’s a nonstarter … I don’t need to highlight examples of requests from the city and county that were not related to disaster recovery and this state is not in a position, never have been, even in other times, to address those requests, particularly at this time.”

The governor’s rejection of Mayor Karen Bass’ pleas for state aid came as he discussed the state’s own economic woes. The state is confronting a $12-billion budget deficit in part due to a “Trump Slump,” Newsom said. The governor had to make cuts to his own signature program offering healthcare to immigrants without proper documentation.

The Los Angeles area is still struggling to recover from the January blazes. Six months after the fires began, it i being reported only 68 rebuilding permits have been issued for the hard-hit area if Pacific Palisades…where over 6800 structures were destroyed.

“Karen Bass is full of crap,” Pacific Palisades resident Sara Trepanier, a physician and single mom of four who lost her home to the devastating blaze in January, told The Post Tuesday.

Trepanier’s candid words come just a day after Bass proclaimed on X that “homes are under construction throughout the Palisades,” lauding her efforts to “cut red tape” on building permits and “get families home.

And just a week earlier, the mayor stood outside a Palisades construction site to say that an April executive order to fast-track floorplan approvals had made historic progress towards rebuilding.

So far, 68 building permits have been issued for 52 addresses, the city says.

But that represents less than 1% of the 6,800 properties damaged or destroyed in the area – and just 20% of the building applications the city says its received.

An article from the Santa Monica Daily Express reveals that nearly 300 area residents have opted to sell their properties rather than rebuild, while fewer than 100 have initiated reconstruction. Sotheby’s International Realty reports 273 properties listed for sale, many as empty lots with asking prices over $1 million. In less-damaged neighborhoods, homes are selling for more than $10 million.

Access to the area remains difficult, as much of the Palisades is still closed except to those with special permits. The closure of Pacific Coast Highway, the main route, has forced lengthy detours, complicating both sales and daily life for residents and potential buyers.

The disparity between those selling and rebuilding highlights the challenges facing the community’s recovery. While some residents pursue fresh starts elsewhere, others navigate complex permitting processes and construction challenges to restore their homes.

The rebuilding timeline remains uncertain as residents work through insurance claims, obtain permits and secure contractors amid high demand for construction services throughout the region.

The realities of the rebuilding failure are so dire that Bass took to social media to pat herself on the back for the rebuilding effort.

Homes are under construction throughout the Palisades — ahead of expectations.

We've taken action to cut red tape and expedite the permitting process to get families home. pic.twitter.com/JvF7p6v6eV

— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) May 26, 2025

However, facts got in the way of the self-congratulations.

Mayor Karen Bass used Walter Lopes’ Pacific Palisades home as a prop to pat herself on the back for helping the neighborhood rebuild after the January wildfires.

But The Post can reveal that Lopes’ house is the only structure standing for blocks and blocks in the charred, desolate neighborhood. And even he isn’t buying Bass’s narrative that rebuilding is going swiftly and smoothly.

Lopes said he was only able to get started so quickly because he was rebuilding his house exactly as it was constructed just a few years ago — and he’s shelled out millions of dollars and pulled out all the stops to get it done.

“I don’t agree that there are a lot of homes popping up,” Lopes said.

Everyone who predicted the rebuilding efforts would be nightmarish was wrong… since the struggles are much, much worse than had been originally projected.

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