MALIBU—On Monday, June 22, the Malibu City Council voted to extend the Woolsey Fire fee waivers for six months to help homeowners who lost their properties during the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Fee waivers are now due on December 30, 2020 instead of the previous deadline which was June 30, 2020. The Woolsey Fire destroyed over 1600 structures in the state of California.
“The City is committed to doing everything possible to help residents rebuild and recover after the Woolsey Fire ravaged our community even amidst the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mayor Karen Farrer. “I am proud that we can keep that commitment and extend the fee waivers to help the homeowners who are still working to rebuild.”
The fee waiver includes properties that are being rebuilt as “like-for-like” or “like-for-like plus 10%” rebuilds. The property should have been the primary residence for the property owner on November 8, 2018.
The city of Malibu has authorized these fee waivers to encourage a quick recover for residents by helping them rebuild their homes that were destroyed in the fire.
Despite financial struggles that the coronavirus and the stay-at-home orders have caused, the city is able to implement these fee waivers due to a combination of “cost cutting, using staff rather than consultants, and applying a large portion of the City’s Woolsey Fire settlement from Southern California Edison (SCE) to cover the cost of extending the fee waivers.”
The city of Malibu has waived or refunded $2.2 million related to the Woolsey Fire, and the terms of the proposed resolution reveal that the total waived funds could amount to $5.8 million.
If a waiver is granted, only the property owner who filed the affidavit will receive a Certificate of Occupancy.
Rebuilding information and resources can be found at www.MalibuRebuilds.org. To request help with Woolsey Fire rebuilds, contact the Fire Rebuild Team at ashah@malibucity.org or call 310-456-2489, ext. 385.
