Cal Fire FHSZ map, Mayor's Executive Order, and Home Hardening

A lot of abbreviations this week. Cal Fire release their fire map of three levels of FHSZ (Fire Hazard Severity Zone). ROE must be turned in by March 30, 2025 for either opt-in or opt-out or the City will clean your site up starting on July 1st on your dime. The recommendation is that opt-in before March 30th, you can always opt-out later. FEMA & SBA assistance deadline extended to March 31, 2025. And Mayor Bass issued another Executive Order EO#5 on March 21st. Lastly, AIA CA hosted an very informative meeting on home hardening techniques that I’ll share once it’s online.

What does the FHSZ zones mean?

According to Cal Fire, these maps are required by law. They are mapping hazard, NOT risk. It identify levels of fire hazard. There are 3 levels: Moderate, High, & Very High, hence the VHFHSZ designation for the Palisades and Altadena. Essentially, all of the the hillsides are designated as VHFHSZ. Palisades has been designated as VHFHSZ for a while now. HERE is a link to how these zones are set up. Most of the new constructions were also built to the VHFHSZ standards, which means interior fire sprinklers, class-A roofing, 1 hour exterior walls, and dual glazed windows with tempered glass. What is new is that new structures will be required to create an ember-resistant zone within the first five feet around habitable structure in the SRA (State Responsibility Areas) and VHFHSZ (Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone) LRAs (Local Responsibility Areas) upon the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection approval of AB 3074. This means no vegetation within the first five feet of the structure. This will probably take effect for all of the new structures that are being submitted and take effect for existing structure in three years. Currently, Pacific Palisades is in the LRA area. The local fire department may also be considering other regulations to be incorporated, so please check with the fire department when you submit your drawings.

HERE is the map where you can find your FHSZ zone. HERE is a link to the FAQ about the zones and HERE is the link for the LRA rollouts. If you are really interested, HERE is the link to the proposed rule packages for the LRA.

Here are a few articles that explains this further:

https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/calfire-maps-hazard-california/

https://www.newsweek.com/california-fire-risk-maps-impact-homeowners-2035772

https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/more-la-county-land-has-very-high-fire-hazard-severity-under-new-state-maps

What does this all mean for insurance? This is part of the Mayor’s EO#5, there is supposed to be a report within 60 days to explore expanded insurance options and provide guidance to homeowners on insurance availability and pricing for wildfire-resilient homes.

EO#5

This EO focuses on the rebuilding and home hardening. I’ve already published the link to the EO on March 19th, if you look back on the blog. The main points are that the city departments will develop paths forward to:

1. Streamline permitting for owners who rebuild all-electric, more fire-resistant homes. Please note, this is on top of rebuilding like-for like.

2. Promote the use of fire-resistant construction materials.

3. Further strengthen the resilience of utilities.

HERE is the link to a copy of it.

Home Hardening Techniques

Creating a continuous layer that envelope the home best protects the home. Most home burned in a wildfire scenario are from embers, not the vegetation itself. With that said, it’s still important to create a fire resistant perimeter around the structure. AIA CA hosted a very informative webinar on both how to harden the home in new construction and retrofit with Q&A afterwards. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has a WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) Fire Institute that studies this. The director Frank L. Frievalt had a great point that none of this works unless we have the local government buy-in on all aspects. Meanwhile, here are few takeaways from the seminar.

https://ibhs.org/wildfire/suburban-wildfire-adaptation-roadmaps/

Isolating the Primary Drivers of Fire Risk to Structures in WUI regions in California

https://headwaterseconomics.org/natural-hazards/retrofitting-home-wildfire-resistance/

Fire Rated Wall

IBHS (Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safey) Wildfire Retrofit

10 Low Cost Ways to Harden Your Home

https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/14853-continuing-education-wildfire-adapted-design

Final Thought

As we rebuild, let’s not forget about the older survivors. Those older residents that have lived in the Palisades for decades, who thought they were spending their golden years living in a paid off home and enjoying the fruits of their decades of labor, have just lost everything. Try and reach out and give them support. “We Lost Everything”: Older Wildfire Survivors Face an Uncertain Future — Department of Angels

Property Tax and Pool Cleanup update

PROPERTY TAX:

There’s been a lot of confusion to how the LA County Assessors will reassess the value of the property after the rebuild. From 2/20/2025 Mayor’s town hall, there were a few clarifications. The assessors will be re-valuate the in one of the two methods and keep your existing or pre-fire tax base, the assessor will choose the method that has the maximum benefit to the homeowner:

1. VALUE - Under 120% of the pre-fire VALUE. For example, if your home was worth $1million before the fire, you can build up to $1.2 million and keep your full tax basis. But this will diminish over time, so the sooner you build, the more likely you will be able to keep your pre-fire tax basis.

2. SIZE - Maintain the same size and square footage + 10% of the pre-fire home. Replacement in similarity. But if you build and add construction beyond what was originally there, then only that portion will be picked up as new construction and added to your taxable value. The assessor also explained that if your property was 1,000 s.f. and you build 1,005 s.f., they are not going to pick that up. But if you build a 2,000s.f. home, then they will consider that as additional s.f. and would be picked up as new construction. Please also note that garage does not count in square footage. HERE is a good explanation how tax assessors calculate their square footage.

   OR

   if you want to sell, Proposition 19 allows you to transfer your property’s tax base to be transferred to a comparable property within the same county or another county in California.

All of this information may be found on https://assessor.lacounty.gov/tax-relief/disaster-relief The assessors also indicated that they are working with both the State Senate and the Assembly in trying to deliver a bill that will address the application of decrease in value as of 1/7/2025 rather than as of 1/1/2026. Please also note that the reduced value remains in effect until the property is fully repaired, restored, or reconstructed.

POOL CLEANUP

If you opt into Army Corp phase 2 debris removal program, please note that the pools within the structural ash footprint with eligible structural debris will have structural debris and water removed from the pool to wet the ash debris. The pool will also be fenced off after debris removal to prevent accidental falls. However, they will not refill the pools, they will not remove the pools, and they will not clear or clean the pools and ponds outside the structural ash footprint.

HERE is the link to the City of LA protocol for swimming pool drainage. You will need to fill out the Pacific Palisades - Pool Discharge Request Google form via the link, or scan below:

After draining the pool, the County also recommends the following procedure for health and safety.

Debris Cleanup

There was a town hall last night regarding debris removal, if you didn’t catch it, HERE is the link to the Youtube video. It’s worth watching.

Essentially the clean up is split into two parts and as Mayor Bass kept stressing that this effort is being led by the County of Los Angeles, not the City:

PHASE I: EPA CLEANUP, FREE to the residents. FEMA has assigned the EPA to assess, remove, and safely dispose hazardous materials from all burned areas. These are household items like lithium batteries, and chemicals (think of the ones in your garage and cleaning supplies). You can follow the status of their clean up on their website: https://www.epa.gov/ca/2025-california-wildfires OR call 1.833.798.7372. They are estimating it’ll be a few hours per household, but there are 15,000 household per the spokesperson. They are starting today, Monday 1/27/2025

PHASE II: After the EPA certify the lot free of hazardous material. You move onto Private Property Debris Removal or PPDR phase. You have two choices:

1.OPTION ONE: Hire your own contractor for debris removal. They must be licensed by the state, and it cannot just be a general contractor. This was quoted as much as $170,000. Porperty owners who elect to opt-out of the government-sponsored program will be required to obtain County approval prior to removing any fire debris.

2.OPTION TWO: Government-sponsored program. led by the Army Corp of Engineers. You will have to sign a Right of Entry (ROE) to give the federal government the right to enter your site for debris removal. This program is FREE to those without debris removal in their insurance policy or without insurance. For this with insurance, the county will access the fund available for debris removal provided by the insurance. I encourage everyone to sign up for this government sponsored program. This is why we pay taxes. The more homeowners sign up the more they can organize by area and sooner they can get this done. Check https://pw.lacounty.gov/epd/debris-removal/ The portal is now open: https://recovery.lacounty.gov/debris-removal/ You can download the opt-in and opt-out form on the website. There will be an option to see if you want the foundation to be removed or not. You should confirm with your structural engineer or architect. Typical 18” pier footing should be removed, due to the high heat caused by the fire. The rebar within those footings probably have melted. The homes with caisson and full basement will require core samples examined by structural engineer to verify if it should be removed or not. the deadline for this is MARCH 31, 2025. They will not remove swimming pools and spas. You should check with your pool contractor on this. THIS is the link for what to do after a fire for swimming pools.

Meanwhile, you can still submit your plans to LADBS for review. Regardless, you’ll need to obtain an existing plan for your insurance or your mortgage company. HERE is the link to the form to request for blueprint of your home. Mayor Bass indicated in her news conference yesterday that the one-stop portal for plan check submittal should be open next week or the week after. https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/video/la-mayor-karen-bass-gives-update-on-palisades-fire-recovery-efforts-rebuilding-socal/

Hope this helps. Have a great week!

XO May

What to consider...property tax, standard plan, and insurance

It’s Sunday morning, and typically around this time, my husband and I are getting ready to walk down to the farmer’s market in the Village to get our weekly supplies. We would get a our guilty pleasure -a croissant from Tommy and Atticus, and then head over to Antioch to get our fish and fruits. We would come home, have our croissant and coffee while we read our newspaper (yes, we would still receive Sunday paper on actual newsprints). Since January 7th, 2025, this has changed. Our Sundays will be different. But I look forward to the new Sunday routine, once the Palisades is back. What I wanted to let people know today are reaction to some of the issues that I’ve been reading on line.

Standard Plans and property tax - There’s been a lot of chatter about standard plans for the rectangular lots for the rebuilt. I just wanted to caution my fellow neighbors not to jump into something without understand ramifications. From my understanding, both the State and the City’s executive order allows for expediting and grandfathering your former tax basis if you rebuild on the existing footprint, height and bulk. You can can change the material, appearance, and interior layout. However, until the assessors confirm this, standard plans may be an upgrade, and that will trigger reassessing. This is a LINK to an interview with a tax expert on CBS News LA regarding this.

Regarding insurance - Document, document, document. It’s incredible what we had in our homes, all the way down to the aluminum foil. All these can be claim on your insurance. This is a useful excel spreadsheet to get you started. Lastly, I’ll keep updating on what I find out about insurance, but most likely everyone will be on the CA Fair Plan. State Farm has announced that they will renew everyone’s insurance for another year. But what happens after? Here’s an article with the CA insurance commissioner.

That’s all for the day. Happy Sunday.

XO May

ADU and other resources.

Governor Newsom has added ADU to be exempt from CEQA and Coastal Act in a new executive order.. Which is good new. However, it is still unclear if grading will trigger CEQA and Coastal Act or not, which most lots in the Palisades will require.

To find out if your property is in the Coastal Zone on both the LA DBS Parcel Search (and you can find your permit history here too, if you home were built after 1990) and ZIMA.

There was a lot of great information given on the Palisades Community Meeting livestream lasts night. There are slow progress on the repopulation of the Palisades. It was just announced that people in the Riviera may return with ID. To find out if the evacuation notice has been lifter of your area, sign up for this the Protect.Genasys APP . Just input your address, and you’ll be alerted. But check back periodically. This map shows if your property has been assessed by Cal Fire. If your property has been assessed, this is the portal to request a report for your insurance company.

For brands that are offering discounts for fire victims. Please see this Google Doc.

Crest Real Estate hosted a great webinar today. I’ll share the link once it’s uploaded. But the gist of it is that:

1. Start collecting records. Permits, record plans, title reports, assessor information.

2. Review the zoning code.

3. Determine if there are non-conforming elements.

4. Determine if you want to Rebuild or Redevelop

LADBS is looking at exemption for survey and soils for the flat area and possibly having architect self certify. The City is also looking at issuing standard plans for fast permitting for flat rectangular lots. I personally have one flat rectangular lot in the Alphabets, and another sloped lot in the El Medio Bluffs. I’m hoping that this will be true. The City and the State are committed to speed up the rebuilding process. I’ll keep trying to add to this as often as I can.

Stay safe, please let me know if you have any questions.

XO May

Rebuild Palisades

Upon returning from Christmas holidays to our home in the Alphabet Streets in the Palisades, the most difficult thing that was confronting me was what New Year’s goals to set. Never did we imagine that our lives were to be turned completely upside down on Jan. 7th, 2025. I am not a blogger, but I wanted to start this to share resources with my neighbors about rebuilding the Palisades. I know it would be easier to just sell and collect insurance, but this was a magic community. Though I have only been here for twenty years, some of my neighbors in the Village have been there for generations. This is not just a town full of celebrities and wealthy families. This is also a town full of working class people that had purchased a home early on to raise their kids in a safe neighborhood. My kids were born and raised here. I lost a husband here. I fell in love with my new husband here. This was (and will be) my forever home. Now our schools are gone, our homes are gone, and our communities are gone. But I believe in the Palisadian spirit. We will rebuild. As an architect that have worked in the Palisades for twenty years, I am happy to share my knowledge and resources.

Whatever you do, DON’T SELL! It’s like losing a spouse. Don’t do anything rash for the first year. Right now there are a lot of agencies at the FEMA Disaster Center on Pico Blvd. to help you.

1. File an application for reassessment (FORM ADS-820) with the County Assessor.

2. Ask for forebearance from your mortgage company. You typically can extend this to 12 months.

3. Though FEMA may have rejected you because you have insurance, you can still seek displacement replacement. They will pay up to 2 months of displacement cost if you upload your insurance declaration pages.

4. Apply for SBA loan for both your home and your business, if it’s run from your home.

5. File for tax extensions, the government is even allowing for extensions for professionals that works and does not live in the Palisades.

Here are some of the latest items from the governmental agencies and handouts for rebuilding. The Cliff note version of it, is that you can build like for like. Same footprint, same height, and bulk. You can add 10% of the existing s.f.. However, you can change the design and interior layout of the project. You may also receive additional fund from your insurance company if you build up to current code by using more resilient and ecological materials. This may add another 20% on top of coverage A of your original coverage. But you should check with your insurance company.

Someone on the WhatsApp link group created this Google Doc with local resources for the rebuilding the Palisades. It’s a live document.

Here are some handouts I received from the FEMA office.

City of Los Angeles Emergency Executive Order No. 1

City of Los Angeles ZI No. 2523 CA Coastal Coastal Commission Development Permit No. A-381-78 Palisades Highlands (Pacific Palisades)

Palisades Fire Rebuild and Recovery Coastal Zone Requirement

Coastal Exemption - Single Jurisdiction Coastal Zone applications

Hope this helps. Do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.

XO May