Residents feel listened to as Roy intercedes on their behalf with city officials
“We need solutions — not delays,” said Jo Drummond, a Big Rock resident whose home burned down in the Palisades Fire. “A rebuilding ambassador will help identify bottlenecks and help us find solutions.”
The City Council unanimously appointed Abe Roy, a contractor who lives on Big Rock, to serve as a rebuild ambassador who will be an intermediary between owners, their design-build teams and city staff in the planning and public safety department. “Very broadly, my position creates a formal way to create and facilitate collaborative interaction between those who seek rebuilding permits and the City Council, city manager, and city staff as well as fire department officials who will ultimately approve a property’s turn arounds for fire engines and access areas for emergency responders,” Roy said.
“The root of the problems involving permit application processing delays is the sheer number of ‘discretionary elements,’ in the city’s processes — those leave too much for interpretation and allow for the goalposts to change over time within the city staff,” Roy continued.
Because of past delays experienced by rebuilding fire victims after the Woolsey Fire, Roy seeks to expeditiously solve any problems or misunderstandings that cause permit processing delays and impediments.
“We need to define the elements involved in processing permits with granularity so there is no ambiguity and so that everyone is literally working off the same page — and accomplishing those goals is very doable!” he said. “Significant improvement can be achieved by applying best practices and implementing practical, common-sense solutions — there is a vast, untapped talent pool within the community and private sectors that we must actively engage. By doing that, we can not just be better than we were during the Woolsey permit processing, but an order of magnitude better, which is in Malibu’s best interests.”
Furthermore, Roy opined, “Those who burned out in Big Rock have details concerning their rebuilding that differ markedly from the challenges faced by coastal owners and, in turn, by those in Carbon Mesa and Carbon Canyon who are grappling with how to meet the fire department’s access mandates and District 29’s water flow and availability requirements. For every permit applicant, there are property-specific challenges and nuances that could create delays unless those in the city, owner, and their contractors approach problems from a team-building perspective.”
Clear communication early on is pivotal
“When rebuilding one-third of Malibu, it’s imperative that owners and city officials can clearly communicate and that owners and fire department officials, who will ultimately approve each property’s turn arounds for fire engines and access for emergency responders, effectively discuss details and solutions,” Roy advocated.
Discussing her perspective concerning the role of the ambassador, City Councilmember Haylynnn Conrad stated, “Abe’s role must be built on partnership, not power.”
Drummond isn’t the only resident facing the daunting rebuilding process who advocated for, and sees great value in, having Roy serve as ambassador.
From coastal lot owner Carl Randall’s point of view, having Roy as rebuilding ambassador can help move things along as those with coastal lots and the city address whether to install a sewer system or, alternatively, the city decides to require fire victims to install upgraded onsite wastewater systems with leach fields and supportive sea walls. Randall notes that those rebuilding on coastal lots also need government authorities to address whether property owners or Caltrans is responsible for building retaining walls damaged by the fire and located on coastal lots adjacent to the Pacific Coast Highway.
Randall, whose home on Dog Beach burned down, notes that before he commits to rebuilding, he needs answers regarding whether the sewer system will be installed. Further, as he did at the very first post-fire community meeting held at Malibu High School a few days after the Palisades Fire, Randall advocates for the Army Corps of Engineers to build a continuous seawall, as doing that would enormously help those rebuilding on coastal lots.
“One step at a time — one permit at a time,” is the only way to rebuild Malibu, Roy notes, as he points out that coordination between those rebuilding will help economies of scale and that sharing relevant data with all fire victims through a designated rebuilding website will help to track rebuilding metrics and progress.
“We need to analyze why some homes on the coast did not burn, while others were lost. After doing so, we need to rebuild taking those factors into account,” Roy said, noting that many of the coastal lots that survived the fire have one thing in common. Showing an image of one such cluster of still-standing coastal homes, he said, “The 7-foot block wall at the foot of the hill on the land side was all that was needed to prevent the remaining homes from burning along the PCH — we need to take that into account as we rebuild!”
Roy helps establish a Zone Captains Core Team for the Malibu Rebuild Task Force
“The Malibu Rebuild Task Force is launching the Zone Captains Core Team to streamline rebuilding efforts,” Roy stated. “We’re organizing homeowners into zones of 25 to 30 homes based on location, with each zone led by a zone captain who will coordinate text/email groups, escalate permit issues, share city updates, track local contractors, negotiate better pricing, and input data into a website to monitor progress.”
Roy predicts all those actions will “boost communication, centralize information, and enhance efficiency through localized collaboration and resource sharing, including sharing relevant data within the zone and the broader task force.”
Simply stated, Roy views rebuilding as a collaboration between the public sector and the residents, and he urges all Malibuites to learn lessons from the past while collaboratively rebuilding Malibu and defining the contours of its future.