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In hard-hit Altadena alone, the rebuilding process six months later is sucking the lives and hope out of people.And every dime they ever had.Quote...Addressing the concerns of homeowners at a recent community meeting, Barger told them, "You have lost so much, you shouldn't have to worry about permitting fees getting in the way of rebuilding your home. For most families, these fees may have exceeded $20,000. That's a barrier we cannot allow to stand."The deferral of fees only applies to people who lived in their own single-family homes before the fire. It does not apply to non-owner-occupied rental properties, multi-family housing units or commercial structures.The county estimates that if 60% of homeowners in Altadena and elsewhere in unincorporated Palisades rebuild, it would amount to $84 million in building permit fees.Permitting is only one hurdle. For most, state and local building codes have changed in the decades since many of these homes were originally built, meaning the house has to have changes and extras that insurance covering a like-to-like rebuild does not account for."It adds expenses that we didn't expect. Like, solar is required on all new builds, and so is the easement from the property line. It's got to be five feet now and ours was only three," says Toomey, as she stands under a backyard oak tree that survived."And insurance doesn't pay for that stuff. That's on us," Silvernail adds.Soil sampling is now required, and that tacks another $5000-$8000 onto the process.The very long and tedious process, which is beginning to look as if it's specifically designed to soak as much money out of the homeowner as possible before they give up in disgust and move elsewhere.
...Addressing the concerns of homeowners at a recent community meeting, Barger told them, "You have lost so much, you shouldn't have to worry about permitting fees getting in the way of rebuilding your home. For most families, these fees may have exceeded $20,000. That's a barrier we cannot allow to stand."The deferral of fees only applies to people who lived in their own single-family homes before the fire. It does not apply to non-owner-occupied rental properties, multi-family housing units or commercial structures.The county estimates that if 60% of homeowners in Altadena and elsewhere in unincorporated Palisades rebuild, it would amount to $84 million in building permit fees.Permitting is only one hurdle. For most, state and local building codes have changed in the decades since many of these homes were originally built, meaning the house has to have changes and extras that insurance covering a like-to-like rebuild does not account for."It adds expenses that we didn't expect. Like, solar is required on all new builds, and so is the easement from the property line. It's got to be five feet now and ours was only three," says Toomey, as she stands under a backyard oak tree that survived."And insurance doesn't pay for that stuff. That's on us," Silvernail adds.
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Topic: CA stealing land from Palisade fire victims (Read 92 times)
