Overview
- Hundreds of residents filled an Altadena council meeting on Tuesday to protest developers buying burn-zone lots and to demand new rules for rebuilding.
- State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez told the crowd that roughly 49 percent of properties sold after the Eaton Fire went to developers, a figure that alarmed homeowners and renters.
- Residents and officials say SB 9 and SB 1123 let builders split lots and put up to 10 units and three-story buildings on former single-family parcels, a change they warn could strain water, power, parking and evacuation routes.
- Los Angeles County has already voided more than a dozen SB 1123 applications on the grounds the law applies only in built-out areas, while Pérez has introduced SB 1090 to seek a five-year moratorium in designated Altadena ZIP codes.
- The dispute highlights a wider clash between California housing rules and local control, with community groups using the term 'disaster capitalism' to describe investor buying and urging the governor to consider an executive pause similar to one used in the Palisades fire zone.