California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced that he will suspend environmental rules to speed rebuilding following the devastating Los Angeles fires.
This sounds like a common sense move, but this is going to end up being a back door subsidy to real estate developers and building contractors.
This is how faux-liberals like Newsom use a crisis to create profit for their supporters:
Landmark California environmental laws will be suspended for wildfire victims seeking to rebuild their homes and businesses, according to an executive order signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Requirements for building permits and reviews in the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act — often considered onerous by developers — will be eased for victims of the fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other communities, according to the order.
………
Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive of the California Building Industry Assn., said the governor’s action represents an early and strong statement about the future of these areas. Newsom is making clear, Dunmoyer said, that the state will encourage homeowners to go back to their neighborhoods rather than deem development there too risky.
The California Building Industry Association are lobbyists for actors who are
much of the problem here, they fought regulations for fire safe construction
and landscaping, they fought to be allowed to build in fire prone areas, and
they fought against prescribed burns, all of which would have mitigated the
damage.
Look on the right. Any guess as to which home is not a wood frame building?
Particularly in the case of California, where at least 80% of the purchase price is for the land upon which it is built, requiring fire resistant construction should not be that big of a deal.
Also, there is no need for a waiver:
………
The California Coastal Commission, which is tasked with coordinating with local officials in enforcing the Coastal Act, noted last week that the state law already clearly lays out that reconstruction of homes, businesses and most other structures destroyed by a disaster are exempt from typical coastal development permits — as long as the new building is sited in the same location and not more than 10% larger or taller than the destroyed structure.
So there is no issue with state permitting, and there never has been an issue with state permitting, following disasters, but Newsom is proposing dropping the regulations.
Expect to see 1500 sq foot houses being rebuilt as 4500 square foot mega mansions, and 20 unit apartments being rebuilt as 60 unit apartments. (I would actually support the larger apartments, but that is irrelevant to this discussion)
It's a corrupt act taken by a corrupt politician.
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