LA County supervisors direct creation of rebuild authority for fire areas

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Feb. 10, unanimously directed several county departments to create a draft ordinance for the establishment of the Los Angeles County Disaster Recovery Rebuild Authority.

County officials will now have a week to prepare a report and draft ordinance for the rebuild authority proposed by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath, who represent the Eaton and Palisades fire areas respectively.

“It must be clear that the goal of this dedicated team is to help rebuild public infrastructure, support the recovery and rebuilding of private property, and to support survivors’ needs in the aftermath of one of the worst disasters in LA County history,” Horvath and Barger wrote in their motion.

The rebuild authority is described in the motion as a “day zero” plan, meaning it must be launched immediately upon the Board’s adoption of the draft ordinance.

Initial functions of the authority would include implementation of public infrastructure rebuilding plans for fire-impacted areas of Altadena and unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains, including Sunset Mesa; public infrastructure delivery; proactive hazard mitigation; utility coordination; sewer, public water infrastructure and other support functions, according to the meeting agenda report.

“Unlike some of the other disasters we’ve had recently this one is going to take a long time to recover from, and without a dedicated entity to focus on it, it’s going to get subsumed in the next disaster or whatever comes to follow,” Los Angeles County Acting Chief Executive Officer Joe Nicchitta said.

The ordinance is expected to be considered on Tuesday, March 3, at the next regular Board of Supervisors meeting.