Fire rebuild permits in 2026: Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena compared

If your home burned in the January 2025 fires, the first permit question is not "how long?" It's "who?" Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena sit under three different permit authorities. Each has its own rebuild center, its own definition of like-for-like, and its own coastal or county rules. Here is how they compare, with the source for every rule.

Who issues your permit

• Pacific Palisades: the City of Los Angeles, through LADBS. Rebuild permits run through the One-Stop Rebuilding Center at 1828 Sawtelle Blvd and the Palisades Rebuild Permit Center at 16925 Marquez Ave. Both are open Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.
• Malibu: the City of Malibu. The Malibu Rebuild Center is at 23805 Stuart Ranch Road, Suite 240, open Monday to Friday, 8 to 4, by appointment or walk-in.
• Altadena: Los Angeles County, because Altadena is unincorporated. The Altadena One-Stop Permit Center is at 464 W Woodbury Rd, Suite 210, with walk-ins Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 4:30 (last permit call at 3:00). The City of LA does not handle Altadena.

What counts as like-for-like

Rebuilding close to what you had is the fast lane in all three places. The definitions are not the same.

• Pacific Palisades: under the Mayor's Emergency Executive Order 1 (January 2025, revised March 2025), a rebuild up to 110% of the original footprint and height is exempt from the City's discretionary review. The City's FAQ is clear that square footage is not part of the 110% test.
• Malibu: the City treats a replacement home within 110% of the original height, bulk and square footage, in substantially the same place, as like-for-like, and the design can change. A craftsman house can come back modern.
• Altadena: after the fires, the Governor ordered faster permitting for like-for-like rebuilds, and LA County launched a self-certification pilot for certain simpler projects. For the exact limits on your parcel, ask the County's planners at the permit center.

If you want to build bigger

Going past like-for-like is a real trade-off, and it plays out differently in each place.

• Pacific Palisades: Emergency Executive Order 8 (July 2025) extends streamlined review to larger or redesigned single-family homes that meet the zoning rules, and exempts them from a coastal discretionary permit.
• Malibu: a larger or relocated house goes through full coastal review.
• Altadena: ask the County which review applies before design starts.

Either way, price both versions, the like-for-like home and the bigger one, before anyone draws.

Coastal rules

• Malibu: the whole city is in the California Coastal Zone, and the City's Local Coastal Program sets the rules. Like-for-like rebuilds of homes lost in the fire are exempt from a coastal development permit.
• Pacific Palisades: part of the neighborhood is in the Coastal Zone. Under Executive Order 1, a qualifying like-for-like rebuild there needs no coastal permit. To check your own parcel, search the address on ZIMAS (zimas.lacity.org) and look at the Coastal Zone field under the Additional tab.
• Altadena: inland, so the coastal rules don't apply.

Fees

• Malibu waives its planning and building permit fees for like-for-like, or like-for-like plus 10%, rebuilds of single-family homes (and owner-occupied duplexes) that were the owner's primary residence and were lost in the Broad, Franklin or Palisades fires.
• Applications are due by June 30, 2028. Building permits must be pulled by December 30, 2030.

Fire-resistant construction

The new house has to resist the next fire. California's wildfire building rules, long known as Chapter 7A, moved into the new California Wildland-Urban Interface Code when the 2025 building code took effect on January 1, 2026. In High and Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones they call for:

• a Class A roof;
• ember-resistant vents;
• ignition-resistant or noncombustible exterior walls, or fire-rated wall construction;
• multi-pane windows with at least one tempered pane, or glazing with a 20-minute fire rating.

The whole City of Malibu is a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Price these requirements from the first estimate, not at plan check.

Where each area stands (August and September 2026)

• Pacific Palisades: more than 1,400 properties have rebuild permits (August).
• Altadena: more than 1,000 homes are in the construction phase (August). Across Altadena's two ZIP codes, 13,621 permits of all types were filed in 2025, nearly three times the 2024 count. The Eaton Fire destroyed 9,419 structures.
• Malibu: 100 rebuild permits issued, 370 planning approvals and 66 projects in plan check, and the first rebuilt home has received its certificate of occupancy (September). Steep lots, geotechnical review and coastal review all add time.

On a hillside lot, the foundation comes first

Many lots in all three areas are sloped. On a slope, the geotechnical report decides the foundation: drilled caissons, grade beams, retaining walls or a mix. The foundation moves the budget more than any finish will. See how we build on hillside lots and what caisson foundations cost.

Rebuilding in one of these areas?

Energize Builders is a Los Angeles general contractor, CSLB #1112649, building new homes and fire rebuilds in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena. Our minimum for a new home or fire rebuild is $1,000,000. Send us the address, and the original plans or insurance scope if you have them.

Sources

• City of LA, LA Strong: Return & Rebuild, Rebuilding and FAQ (110% test, ZIMAS, Executive Order 8): recovery.lacity.gov · recovery.lacity.gov
• LADBS, 2025 wildfires information (One-Stop Rebuilding Center): dbs.lacity.gov
• City of LA Emergency Management, Palisades Rebuild Permit Center (27 Feb 2026): emergency.lacity.gov
• Mayor's Emergency Executive Order 1, revised 18 Mar 2025: mayor.lacity.gov
• Mayor's Emergency Executive Order 8, 23 Jul 2025: mayor.lacity.gov
• Malibu Rebuilds, regulations (Coastal Zone, LCP, 110% like-for-like): maliburebuilds.org
• Malibu Rebuilds, fee waiver program: maliburebuilds.org
• Malibu Rebuild Center contact: maliburebuilds.org
• City of Malibu, rebuild progress (14 Sep 2026): www.malibucity.org
• LA County Recovers, one-stop permit centers: recovery.lacounty.gov
• CalMatters, 7 Jan 2026 (like-for-like orders, County self-certification pilot): calmatters.org
• California Building Standards Commission, 2025 code changes (Chapter 7A relocated): www.dgs.ca.gov
• California HCD, 2025 California Building Standards Code, effective 1 Jan 2026: www.hcd.ca.gov
• Office of the State Fire Marshal, building in the wildland: osfm.fire.ca.gov
• LADBS wildfire-zone correction list (roof, vents, walls, windows): dbs.lacity.gov
• Santa Monica Daily Press, 1 Nov 2025 (Malibu citywide Very High zone): smdp.com
• Spectrum News 1, 4 Aug 2026 (Palisades and Altadena progress): spectrumlocalnews.com
• Shovels, 17 Mar 2026 (13,621 permits, ZIP codes 91001 and 91003): www.shovels.ai
• CAL FIRE, Eaton Fire incident page (9,419 destroyed): www.fire.ca.gov