The fire-ravaged community of Pacific Palisades notched a political victory Tuesday when Governor Gavin Newsom (D) agreed to issue an executive order exempting fire zones from urban densification legislation.
The fight centered around SB 9, a 2021 law meant to encourage housing construction by letting homeowners subdivide their lots more easily, and build accessory dwelling units (ADUs, also known as “granny flats”).
The well-intentioned law, initially welcomed by property owners, turned into a threat after the fire, when the community feared that developers would purchase burned-out single-family lots and build multi-family housing instead, changing the character of the area and adding to traffic congestion, among other problems.
Neighbors mobilized through WhatsApp groups, social media, and residents’ associations to send over 20,000 letters to public officials calling for SB 9 to be halted for fire zones. Local L.A. City Council member Traci Park led the charge, noting how crowded the evacuation from the Palisades Fire had been in January.
District 11 L.A. City Council Member Traci Park, inside the fire zone, January 10, 2025. (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)
Mayor Karen Bass followed on Tuesday with a statement urging Newsom not to apply SB 9 to the Palisades.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Newsom responded favorably:
Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to issue an executive order Wednesday allowing local governments in Los Angeles to limit development in wildfire-affected neighborhoods by exempting them from provisions of a landmark housing law, a spokesperson for his office said.
The proposed order would let the city and county of Los Angeles and Malibu restrict construction that was allowed under Senate Bill 9, a 2021 law that lets property owners build up to four units on land previously reserved for single-family homes.
The order will apply to Pacific Palisades and parts of Malibu and Altadena — areas that burned in January’s Palisades and Eaton fires that are designated as “very high fire hazard severity zones” by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said.
Newsom may have wanted to undo some of the alarm created earlier this month when he allocated $101 million for low-income housing in fire zones.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
