LA Mayor Karen Bass used this lone house to claim she’s cutting red tape for wildfire victims — but owner says he’s had to fight at every turn

Lopes said he was only able to get started so quickly because he was rebuilding his house exactly as it was constructed just a few years ago — and he’s shelled out millions of dollars and pulled out all the stops to get it done. For example, the city initially said that expanding a basement would count against a new house’s size limit, but that rule was later reversed, a homeowner told The Post. Local developer Alexis Rivas complained that despite the state government’s “like-for-like” order that exempts rebuilds from having to go through the usual approval process, the LA city planning department at first refused to honor the mandate because the mayor’s office hadn’t told them to do so.

Author: Jared Downing

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