The Independent Commission is urging the California Legislature to establish new local governments to oversee and coordinate reconstruction after the most devastating fires in Los Angeles County history.
The state’s law call to create a new Reconstruction Bureau is one of the biggest proposals of the 20-member Blue Ribbon Commission on climate action and fire recovery, and issued a final recommendation on Friday.
Committee members said the new entities were important to manage monumental reconstruction efforts following the January fire that claimed at least 29 lives and destroyed 18,000 homes and other properties.
“The severity of the situation requires extraordinary action. Normally business is not going well,” said Cecilia Estrano, committee member and former CEO of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency.
The committee said the proposed resilient reconstruction authorities will streamline complex recovery efforts and prioritize the return of residents and businesses as the neighborhoods will be rebuilt in Altadena and Pacific palaces.
Authorities use tax increment financing and other sources of funding to purchase fire-exposed lots that property owners want to sell and direct the reconstruction process. Those chased by a fire will get their new home’s number one priority.
Committee members said this would result in a coordinated approach, avoiding investors snapping the property and making the new home uncontrollable for displaced people. The report said the authorities were “designed to offset the power to promote displacement and inequality in the aftermath of a disaster.”
“You’ll see that as usual, it’s driven by land speculation,” Estrano said. The aim is to “reconstruct a more balanced reconstruction rather than purely determined by the market.”
Based on the committee’s recommendations, resilient reconstruction authorities will be guided by members appointed by the governor, state legislators, local governments, and by boards provided guidance by the Citizens’ Advisory Committee.
The committee also urged voters to approve voting measures to create a new Los Angeles County Fire District funded through property taxes, and proposed focusing on wildfires, vegetation management, and other efforts to reduce fire risk.
The panel said property taxes or fees requiring voter approval could be assessed for property in a particular area or county-wide, with higher fees in areas facing high fire risks requiring more investment.
The new district will be charged with creating and maintaining a “green space buffer zone” between the home and the open land, as well as taking other measures to protect fire-prone areas.
Overall, the committee has presented more than 50 recommendations and will focus on reconstruction after the Palisade and Eton fires to prepare the neighborhoods to withstand the severe wildfires that have been exacerbated by climate change, which will also help tackle global warming by encouraging the construction of electric homes.
The panel said LA County should quickly track all electrical homes and that the state should provide incentives to promote electrification and solar power. The committee’s report states that new authorities should “advance the purpose of resilience and clean energy.”
The Blue Ribbon Commission was established by Los Angeles County supervisor Lindsey Horvas and includes representatives from businesses, local governments, civic organizations and environmental groups.
“Treasury strategies like defensible space, battery backup solar and all-electric structures don’t just protect your home, they cut costs and protect the environment,” Horvath said, adding that the panel’s proposal lays the foundation for a “climate-smart, a fire-safe future.”
The committee, which presented its first proposal in May, said in its report that the fire is one of the most expensive climate disasters in U.S. history and represents a “hard of the future risks facing the region in terms of extreme drought, weather, heat and fire.”
The committee said its goal was to “enable the community to rise from the ashes stronger.”
“Bold and coordinated action is needed to combat the risks of evacuation, rising insurance costs and deepening community vulnerability to future climate events,” the committee’s report said. “As we act decisively, Greater Los Angeles can be a model of climate-sensitive and equitable recovery.”
Some of the committee’s other recommendations include changes such as:
Expanding federal fire department removal programs. Standardized soil testing and cleaning. Ensuring that construction meets the standards for “fire-covered” buildings and that building standards maximize spacing between buildings. Create a “buffer zone” with appropriate vegetation to reduce the risk of fire. Prefer systems with additional storage capacity in the neighborhood, and external sprinklers with external sprinklers to homes, parks and schools. Create voluntary programs to “shift development from high-risk, constrained, or uninsured parcels to better suited sites.”
Some of these steps can be taken by city or county leaders, utility services, or other entities.
Matt Petersen, chairman and chief executive of the Los Angeles Screen Tech Incubators committee, said he will work with startups to promote renewable energy, calling for “additional resources and coordination and economy of a scale that we think will only come through this authority.”
Similar development authorities were established to oversee reconstruction in areas that have been devastated by other major disasters, such as the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the 9/11 attack, and Hurricane Katrina.
Over 40 academic experts from UCLA provided support to the committee and advised members on recovery and reconstruction after the disaster.
“Without intentional and intentional leadership by governments, taking responsibility for the community by governments, an uncontrolled recovery process only widens the gap. “We’ve seen it many times throughout the disaster recovery process.”
With strong guidance, Marin said the government could streamline reconstruction in a way that “makes these communities more fire and climate-sensitive.”
“We cannot ignore the importance of climate change in promoting this growing fire risk looming across the Los Angeles region and in fact the entire Southwest,” she said. “We can make it as easy as possible for people to rebuild, but we can rebuild in a more protected way in the future.”
Former LA redevelopment chief Estrano was expelled from his Altadena home by Eton Fire. The house she rented was damaged by fire and smoke and she moved to Ross Ferris.
“What I like most about that community is that it was a mixed income. It was a lively place with a lot of local commerce,” she said.
She said such communities will not return unless a reconstruction authority is established that can buy the property and keep the land value down.
“The authorities can allow fair prices and give these people a chance as a first look back at what the home is being rebuilt,” she said. “And that doesn’t happen without authority.”
The committee also called for cities, counties and states to work with new authority to launch a campaign to secure philanthropic contributions to help reconstruction, with the aim of raising $200 million over the next year or two and leveraging additional financial resources.
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