A way forward for those who lost their Malibu homes in the Woolsey Fire is just beginning to take shape, three months after the devastating blaze destroyed nearly 500 homes in and around the city. Most of those who were burned out are beginning to look ahead to the rebuild process, which for many will involve moving back to destroyed properties to live and oversee new construction.
Next Monday, at the Feb. 25 Malibu City Council meeting, council will vote to enact changes to local ordinances and codes that will allow for a little more wiggle room when it comes to temporary on-site dwellings at residences during this process.
Property owners will be permitted to place one or two temporary structures on their properties, with total combined size not to exceed 1,200 square feet. The structures will be permitted initially for four years and up to six years, “provided that a building permit for the reconstruction has been issued and regular inspections are occurring.” Before the increase was approved, temporary dwellings were only permitted for up to six months.
At last week’s meeting, there was some confusion over how much combined square footage to allow.
“I’ve talked to too many people that are mixed families trying to figure this out, and they want grandma and the caretaker in one and family and the kids in another,” Council Member Mikke Pierson reasoned while council discussed the changes last Monday, Feb. 11. “I don’t know if they’re actually going to do it, but that’s what I heard a number of times.”
Council Member Skylar Peak suggested bumping up the combined square footage allowance to 1,800 square feet, but other council members noted that could run the risk of being denied by the California Coastal Commission, whose staff is expected to approve a 1,200 square foot maximum size.
“Let’s just go with [1,200 square feet], if it already passed the Coastal Commission sniff test,” Council Member Rick Mullen suggested. Council agreed.
Also approved was a widening of the definition of temporary structures.
“The council voted to change the definition of temporary structures to allow a wider variety of temporary dwelling units, rather than only trailers, to be placed temporarily on burned out properties so that residents have more options [to] live in while rebuilding,” a press release from the city described. “Those could include Conex trailers, double-wides, camper trailers, and other types of units, as long as they meet certain requirements. Approvals to maintain such units permanently as accessory dwelling units are possible.”
The removal of certain native trees will also be allowed after the changes are approved on Monday. Native trees, which are protected in the city’s code, may be removed if they were destroyed or damaged by a natural disaster (such as the Woolsey Fire), with an arborist’s report approved by the city biologist. Native trees “that constitute an imminent public health and safety hazard due to the risk of falling where the structural instability cannot be remedied,” may also be removed, again after approval from the city biologist. Native trees that were planted as part of an approved permit, and not required, may also be removed.
Pierson asked Planning Director Bonnie Blue during last Monday’s meeting about mitigations for trees destroyed and removed as a result of the fire, asking whether native trees lost would have to be replaced. Blue said city staff believed a carrot approach would work better than a stick.
“If the trees were destroyed by fire, that wasn’t the homeowner’s fault,” Blue said.
City Attorney Christi Hogin also jumped in to clarify that mitigation “is the concept, as you know, when you’re going to do a development and that development is going to have an impact and you mitigate that impact … You can’t really hold people responsible for mitigating the damage that they didn’t cause.”