By Chris Woodward
The Center Square

When disasters happen, things take time to recover. Pacific Palisades is no exception, although a Los Angeles City Council member is pleased with the progress made since the devastating January 2025 fire.

Traci Park, a Democrat whose Council District 11 includes the coastal neighborhood, said there are hundreds of new construction starts. Multiple schools are also back on campus, including Palisades Charter High School, as the area recovers from the Palisades Fire. The blaze burned 23,448 acres and hit communities such as Pacific Palisades, but rebuilding is going on.

“We have issued, at my last check, about 50 commercial permits, and we have plans well underway for the library, the rec center, the YMCA,” Park told The Center Square.

“The infrastructure restoration, the undergrounding, the utility upgrades – all of that is underway,” Park said.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has also touched on recovery efforts in Pacific Palisades.

During this year’s State of the City address, Bass said she has “sat with Palisades families who lost their homes, their livelihoods and all sense of normalcy.” The Democrat and former congresswoman added she carries the stories with her.

“Every day without a home is a day too long, and every argument with your insurance company is another hour that you will never get back,” said Bass. “That’s why we are moving with urgency.”

According to the mayor, more than 400 homes are under construction, and hundreds more have been approved and ready to build.

Meanwhile, Park said there are still “thousands of people who remain displaced” and mired in disputes with their insurance companies.

“Many people are paying mortgages on houses they can’t live in, and lots they can’t afford to build in, because they don’t have access to affordable capital to cover the gaps, the financial gaps, because so many people were under and uninsured and just simply do not have the resources,” said Park.

On Feb. 3, the Los Angeles City Council approved a plan to waive rebuilding permit fees for survivors of the Palisades Fire. The vote was unanimous, and this is for private property damaged or destroyed in the January 2025 fire.

“This year, as alternative living expense coverage and mortgage relief expire, the economic realities are setting in, and people are running out of time and options, and so waiving these fees removes one more barrier,” said Park.

When recovery is not moving along as fast as people would think, government permitting is sometimes blamed. However, Park said the speed of permitting is not really the issue.

According to Park, people are not yet ready to apply for their permits because they do not have the resources they need.

“So trying to eliminate as many financial barriers is a really important component of getting people back,” Park told The Center Square. “I first introduced this in the wake of the fire, and with the assistance of the mayor and her executive order suspending the collection of the fees, this is something that I moved out of my committee as chair of the L.A. Recovery Committee to cover all properties. And the budget committee came back with the proposal that was only for single-family homes and ADUs [accessory dwelling units].

“And, of course, that leaves out mobile homes, townhomes, condos, beloved commercial properties and historic businesses,” Park said.

Feeling as though government was acting inappropriate and picking winners and losers, Park pressed on and got something done for all properties up to 110%.

“That relief is now available to people who own apartment buildings, to people that owned commercial properties that want to rebuild in the Palisades,” said Park. “It should not have taken as long as it took, and we have done it in the city of Los Angeles and other disasters, so it’s a good thing to do.”

She added, “It is the correct thing to do, and it is the least we could do.”

Park’s Council District 11 is on Los Angeles’ Westside. In addition to Pacific Palisades, CD 11 covers neighborhoods such as Brentwood, Mar Vista, Playa del Ray, Playa Vista, Venice and Westchester.

“All of my neighborhoods and communities need my attention. And so we manage and we are getting through it, but of course what needs to be done in the Palisades is an extraordinarily heavy lift,” Park said.

Maryam Zar, founder and president of Palisades Recovery Coalition, agreed. Zar said there is a lot that is going to require construction and reconstruction.

Zar added that building in Pacific Palisades is already challenging because of the nature of the roads and how things are laid out in the hillside community, which is between the cities of Malibu and Santa Monica.

“There are only a couple of major roads in,” Zar told The Center Square. “There’s a lot of construction going on, so it is going to be difficult to jostle for road space.”

As Los Angeles heads into the spring, Park encourages people from other parts of the city and beyond to visit Pacific Palisades, its shops and restaurants.

“I only have about, I think, 6,000 or so people living in the Palisades right now, and so those restaurants really appreciate the support,” said Park. “It’s wonderful to see people in the community, and that’s true in the Palisades and Malibu.”

Zar, who is also CEO of Pacific Palisades-Malibu Chamber of Commerce, said there are areas along Sunset Boulevard where “there are quite a few businesses that are coming back.” These include restaurants, a coffee chain and a wine store.

On any given day, Zar said, visitors will see cars parked and life coming back to the area.

“In fact, we’re working on potentially being able to bring back the farmers market to that location,” said Zar. “There’s a school across the way people are populating in that neighborhood.”

Sunset Boulevard intersects with Marquez Avenue, where classes at Marquez Charter Elementary School have been held in temporary modular buildings since the campus reopened in September. The school there burned to the ground, but is being rebuilt and is expected to be completed by 2028. (That’s also the timeline for the rebuilding of another school that burned down, Palisades Charter Elementary School on Via de la Paz.)

Other places along Marquez Avenue are going to need time, but Zar said she and her team are working to help business owners resolve their issues as coastal Los Angeles communities are rebuilt.