Rebuilding in PacificPalisades under the fire orders

Pacific Palisades is part of the City of Los Angeles, so a rebuild there goes through the Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) and City Planning, under emergency orders from Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom. Those orders have been revised several times since January 2025. This guide follows the City's and the State's own documents as they stood in late October 2026, and every source is listed at the end.

What counts as like-for-like

The Mayor's Emergency Executive Order 1 (EO 1), issued on January 13, 2025 and revised that March, sets the basic rule. An eligible project rebuilds a home damaged or destroyed by the fire, keeps the same use, and stays within 110% of the old building's footprint and height. The City's FAQ adds that square footage is not part of the 110% test. The house must stay in substantially the same location; the City's implementation guidelines (version 4.0, June 2026) let the footprint shift by up to 20% of the lot's width and depth.

An eligible project skips the City's discretionary review and planning overlays such as the Pacific Palisades Village Specific Plan. Governor's Executive Order N-4-25 suspended the California Coastal Act and CEQA for rebuilds within the same 110% limits, so in the Coastal Zone no coastal development permit is needed. To stay eligible, a project must get its building permits within seven years of EO 1 and finish within three years of getting them, timelines that a later order or the City Council can extend.

Detached ADUs are treated separately. A new or rebuilt detached ADU is not held to the 110% limit, whether or not the lot had one before the fire. In the Coastal Zone a new detached ADU must sit at least 10 feet from a canyon bluff and 25 feet from a coastal bluff.

A larger or redesigned house

Outside the Coastal Zone and the Specific Plan area, a rebuild that is not like-for-like but complies with zoning is filed directly with LADBS and gets the same expedited review. Inside the Coastal Zone, the Mayor's Executive Order 8 (July 2025) extends local streamlining to zoning-compliant single-family homes that are not like-for-like, with bluff setbacks and environmental protections. City Planning says this replaces what would typically have been an 18 to 24 month coastal review. EO 8 covers single-family houses only, and the Governor's Executive Order N-29-25 suspended CEQA and the Coastal Act for those zoning-compliant single-family rebuilds in the City.

To see whether a lot is in the Coastal Zone, look it up on ZIMAS (zimas.lacity.org) and check the "Coastal Zone" field under the "Additional" tab.

One more limit: under the Mayor's Executive Order 9, the City does not accept SB 9 lot splits or two-unit projects inside the burn area's Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.

Before plan check

• Debris clearance. Before a permit is issued, LADBS needs documentation from LA County Public Works that the site has been cleaned.
• Hillside lots. LADBS bulletin P/BC 2025-157 maps geologically sensitive areas. Orange zones include sites on or next to steep slopes or potential landslide areas, and lots in orange and yellow zones need combined geology and soils reports. On flatter lots, removing an old shallow foundation calls for a grading permit for removal and recompaction, and a soils report is required for excavations deeper than 5 feet. An approved soils and geology report dated within 10 years of EO 1 can be reused.
• Hydrants and access. City code wants a property no more than 300 feet from the nearest hydrant, and the City notes there are often alternatives to installing a new one, such as upgrading the fire sprinkler system. The Fire Department's plan review does not assess defensible space, except setbacks from property lines.
• Power. LADWP asks rebuilds to be ready for underground service: a combination overhead and underground service panel and one 3-inch conduit from the panel to the front property line. Contact LADWP before construction starts; after the final inspection, LADBS sends the release to the utilities.

Where to apply and how fast it moves

The City runs two support centers, both open on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: the One-Stop Rebuilding Center at 1828 Sawtelle Blvd in West Los Angeles, and the Palisades Inspections and Permitting Support Center at 16925 Marquez Avenue. Under EO 1, City departments are to finish their reviews within 30 days of a complete application and LADBS is to inspect within two business days. The City says it has eliminated 70% of the clearances once required for a single-family rebuild.

Three options can shorten review:

• Self-certification. A California-licensed architect, and since February 2026 a licensed civil engineer, can take responsibility for code compliance without a full LADBS plan check. The building is still inspected. The pilot covers single-family rebuilds of up to three stories, with their ADUs, outside geologically sensitive areas.
• Standard plans. The City's pilot of pre-approved single-family designs had its first approvals on November 13, 2025. Each plan still gets a final LADBS review for the site and its clearances before a permit.
• AI pre-check. The ArchiStar portal is for preliminary AI plan review only; complete plans are still submitted through LADBS's ePlanLA system.

If the building code changes during a rebuild, the City says the house does not have to meet the new code unless its building permit expires.

Fees

Ordinance 188985, in effect since July 16, 2026, waives City fees for rebuilding or repairing a fire-damaged structure, up to the amount for 110% of its area. It applies to the owner of record on January 7, 2025. If the property is sold before the certificate of occupancy is issued, the seller must repay the waived fees (condominiums and townhomes are the exception). School fees are separate: LAUSD fees do not apply when the replacement has the same square footage, but an addition of more than 500 square feet pays on the added area.

Codes and fire rules

The Governor's Executive Order N-29-25, as revised by N-37-25 in November 2025, lets fire rebuilds follow the 2022 building code instead of the 2025 code, except for the fire and public safety requirements from the State Fire Marshal. It suspends the rooftop solar and battery requirements for rebuilt homes but keeps the Solar Ready rules. The City's all-electric requirement for new buildings was repealed by Ordinance 188716, effective October 13, 2025, and the repeal reaches any permit without a certificate of occupancy.

The Palisades has been a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone since 1999. Brush clearance applies year-round to vegetation within 200 feet of structures, and the state's Zone 0 rules for the first five feet around a house were still in final legal review in late October 2026.

CRG Construction builds new homes in Pacific Palisades and handles the permit process for the homes it builds. Estimates are free.

Rules and programmes change. We confirm the current requirements with the permitting office for every property; nothing here is legal advice. More on building in Pacific Palisades.