www.palisadesnews.com
November 2025 September
First Issued forProgress PalisadesinHome Data Permits Shows Rebuilding PostBuilds Under New City Program Fire Palisades over 600 addresses in the neighborhood, Officials saidindicate the to Pali1,000 Builds’ September analysis. with permits issued 1for about 515 The numbers Processing times for new building sites. Construction has begun on more initiative has helped than permits averaged around 63-77 a surge in permitting 340 projects, according to updated days in summer months, up from 31 tracking progress. cut permitting activity, particularly dashboards days in March, suggesting growing The program stems from Executive administrative demands as applications Directive 13, one of several emergency times formonths singlein recent increase. Pali Builds, founded by locals measures enacted after the fire. Other to fill include gaps inwaiving official fees data,forcontinues family projects to steps repairs, New data from Pali Builds, a tracking until certain the LA Mayor’s Office environmental community platform tracking recovery suspending provides comprehensive figures. nearly three times and introducing AI tools to prefrom the January wildfires, shows reviews Homeplans. sales Additional data through August 1 pre-approved significant rebuilding momentum in screen reveals 160 lots sold since the library Januaryon7 faster than pre-fire designs are being added to the Pacific Palisades, with 179 new home fires, totaling $477.7 million. basis. permits approved since the fires and 160 a rolling averages The market shows stark accelerated disparities City officials also report lots sold generating nearly $478 million in sales, highlighting robustabut uneven The first permits aunder new city housing market. program offering pre-approved designs numbers homes indicate surge in forThe single-family haveabeen issued permitting activity, particularly in recent in Pacific Palisades. months. The Standard Plan Pilot Program, From January 2025, Losa launched earlier to thisAugust year, provides Angelesofapproved 179 new homes in library code-compliant home designs the 90272 zip code, withLosapprovals reviewed in advance by the Angeles accelerating over only two March Department of time: Building andin Safety. but jumping to 76 in August, according Officials said the initiative has helped cut permitting times for single-family projects to nearly three times faster than pre-fire averages, with more than 70% of required clearances now eliminated. To date, city records show more than 1,200 rebuilding plans approved for
by area:removal Area 8 — led completed with 11 sales at ana debris nearly average $10.6 andwith median year ahead ofmillion schedule the $10.2 U.S. million,Corps contributing $116.4 Army of Engineers — andmillion faster in volume, of while Area with 2 hadwater 16 sales restoration utilities, and averaging $1.7 million. Area 5 the power back online for survivingsaw homes most activity with 48 sales averaging within two months. $2.1 Buyer properties compositionin from For million. commercial the January to July included individuals Palisades Commercial 85 Village area, (53%), 64 coastal entities zones, (40%),emergency and 11 including unknown (7%), pointing to substantial measures have streamlined approvals institutional investment in the recovery. while adhering to local development standards. Community facilities like the Palisades Recreation Center are slated to break ground in January 2026 through a public-private partnership, with a temporary library planned for early next year.
Lawmakers Pass SB 79, Sparking Outcry Over Local Control Loss Some decried the bill, Paliskates Finds New Home After Fire now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, for Destroyed Original Location ignoring traffic, Female-owned infrastructure, skate shop plans return environmental, and to Pacific Palisades public safety concerns
Paliskates, the Pacific Palisades By Zach skate shop thatArmstrong lost its flagship store in last year’s wildfire, has opened a new California lawmakers approved location in Brentwood at 212 26th St., Senate Bill 79, a controversial housing across from the Brentwood Country mandate some have decried for ignoring Mart. infrastructure and public safetyby concerns, The business, founded Erica in mid-September, prompting Simpson in 1999, bills itself asfierce the opposition from Los Angeles leaders. longest-running female-owned skate Theinlegislation, authored Sen. Scott shop the U.S. It served as by a community Wiener (D–San surfers Francisco), allows for for hub for skaters, and families more multi-family housing development more than 25 years until the Palisades fire near transit permitting taller anda destroyed thestops, original site shortly after denser buildings closer to major transit December 2024 anniversary celebration. hubs and allowing agencies to Simpson said the transit Brentwood space build on their own land. Thewhile bill also represents a “fresh start” the requires a share of affordable housing company remains committed to units in newinprojects. rebuilding Pacific Palisades. Plans of Palisadians, forIn late that August, seconda crowd location are “fully
along with city leaders and officials, rallied against the bill. “SB 79 is 100 times worse than existing laws,” Pacific Palisades Residents Association President Jessica Rogers said, warning of risks in wildfire-prone areas like the Palisades, citing inadequate evacuation underway,” she said. routes and infrastructure strain. The shop gained national attention In August, the Los Angeles City during the 2025 Grammy Awards when Council voted 8–5 in opposition to SB Avril Lavigne appeared in a Recording 79, led bycommercial Councilwoman Traci Park Academy promoting fireand Councilmember John Lee. affected small businesses. Lavigne Park, later whose district includesand thecollaborated Palisades, modeled for Paliskates called it a “Sacramento attempt to hijack on a limited-edition sweatshirt that local planning,” silencing residents. The raised reconstruction funds through Pacific sales. Palisades Community Council online also urged to veto bill, After theNewsom fire, the store the shifted referencing his emergency order limiting to e-commerce and social media, dense housingties in fire zones. maintaining with customers who “This bill opens floodgates called it a “second home”the for generations for developers, displacement, and of local skaters. Celebrities including gentrification, with no regard for our Kate Hudson and other longtime neighborhoods,” saidthein recovery a Sept. supporters ralliedPark behind 13 statement, noting that Los Angeles effort. hasA thousands of housing under community opening units event is construction. SB 79, she argued, would scheduled Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. undermine planning place with music,years lightof bites and toskating housing along The transit corridors.marks the camaraderie. gathering Days after itsgathering passage, since Park introduced first in-person the loss of a motion city departments the original directing store. to Paliskates conduct began a comprehensive 90-day as a counter-culture
Photo: Instagram: @paliskates assessment of SB 79. The motion hangout offering apparel, accessories instructs City and skate the gear. Departments It grew into of a multiPlanning, Transportation, and Housing, generational space where parents who along hung with out the City Attorney, to analyze once as teens now bring their the bill’s effects. The report will include own children.
maps of areas within a quarter-mile and The Brentwood address places the half-mile of transit stops subject to SB shop near high-end retail and dining, but 79, impacts on rent-stabilized housing, Simpson emphasized the focus remains historic districts, coastal zones, and high-risk fire and tsunami areas. on community over commerce.