The L.A. wildfires last January accounted for two of our four most-read stories last year. The passage of SB 79 and other housing legislation, along with the passing of parking guru Donald Shoup, were also high on the list.
A program to educate California planners about wildfires and firefighters about planning won a 2025 American Planning Association National Planning Award
Following on Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order, the local governments suspended the lot-splitting law in the Palisades and Altadena. But YIMBY Law is threatening to sue, saying additional density is not a fire hazard.
Paradise is only a third rebuilt after seven years -- and the community will be different than it used to be. But panelists in a recent webinar said reducing the risk in wildfire areas is more feasible than avoiding those areas altogether.
Pressured to rebuild Pacific Palisades, the City of Los Angeles may adopt a rare policy to help developers and builders sidestep lengthy permitting processes that can delay production of new housing
This is the moment for planners and planning. Although the driving force of recovery is to quickly build back what was lost, it’s also an opportunity for considering the future and how to incorporate resilience and other community improvements into the rebuild
Probably not. Residents typically want to rebuild what they had before -- even if replicating the existing land use pattern creates significant wildfire risk.
Already an epic-scale tragedy, California's wildfires--consuming a record 4 million acres this year--are effectively shrinking the amount of land available for housing and prompting planners to make tough choices between growth and safety.
