Mayor Bass orders ban on SB 9 applications in Palisades Fire zone

CBS News

a day ago

Mayor Karen Bass signed an executive order on Wednesday, prohibiting Senate Bill 9 applications in the Palisades Fire zone, which would bar the construction of multiple homes on a parcel of land typically zoned for a single house.
Bass issued the restrictions shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a state executive order that delegated regulatory power on SB 9 applications in high fire hazard severity zones to local governments in Los Angeles County.
Newsom's executive order also places a seven-day pause on SB 9 developments in fire zones in Altadena, Sunset Mesa and Malibu.
"We will continue to assist communities in rebuilding safely in ways that are responsive to local concerns," Newsom said. "This executive order responds directly to requests from local officials and community feedback, recognizing the need for local discretion in recovery and that not all laws are designed for rebuilding entire communities destroyed by fires overnight."
In a statement released a day before issuing the executive order, Bass claimed that SB 9 developments could potentially create a bottleneck in evacuation and emergency situations.
"The ability for developers to use SB 9 to change recently destroyed single-family home lots into multiple residences could drastically further challenge ingress and egress in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFSZ) following the worst fire disaster the city has ever faced," Bass said on Tuesday. "It could fundamentally alter the safety of the area by straining local infrastructure."
During the opening hours of the Palisades Fire, the sheer amount of evacuees fleeing the flames created a gridlock along Pacific Coast Highway and the surrounding roads. When the fire grew closer to the area, authorities told drivers to abandon their cars and flee on foot.
"The fire came right down to the road and the fire department came up and said get out of your cars now — because the fire was right up against the cars," said Marsha Horowitz, who was driving down Sunset at the time. "There were three lanes of cars, and the fire was right down and there was nothing to stop it."
Firefighters used a bulldozer to clear the roads filled with abandoned cars.
SB 9, also known as the Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act, took effect in 2022 and changed the limits on the number of homes that can be built on a parcel of land typically reserved for a single house.
It was touted as a way to increase the availability of homes amid the state's housing crisis. Once approved, people could build up to four homes on a parcel and split a lot into two.
SB 9 projects were restricted to urban areas and could not be in a historical district. The law also states that parcels in very high fire hazard safety zones or earthquake fault zones may not be eligible for the program.
"SB 9 was not originally intended to be used in the rebuilding of a community that was decimated by the worst natural disaster L.A. has ever seen," Bass said on Wednesday. "I thank Governor Newsom for working with my office to provide some sense of solace for a community working to rebuild."