NEWS

STATUS UPDATE - JAN 23, 2026

WHLA has retained experienced land use attorney and community advocate Jamie T Hall to lead our fight against the proposed WHCC development project. You can reach more about Jamie HERE.
Jamie is currently conducting a full analysis of the legislation (mainly AB 2011, AB 2243, AB 893) to determine what the legal ramifications are with respect to ministerial review. The main question to be answered at this time is whether the project qualifies for fast track, ministerial review at all. The bills are technically complex, and somewhat convoluted - this seems to be the consensus of several legal experts. There are subsections that tie into the bills as well. The analysis is definitely not a linear process, and when you spread the bill provisions and referenced code sections out, it's a large, complex web, and understanding it is a cornerstone.
Jamie Hall has hired a very experienced city planning consultant to help navigate different aspects of our case. We will also be hiring additional consultants, as needed. This may include a certified consulting arborist, environmental biologist, transportation engineer, etc. We need to do this because we cannot trust any reports submitted by the developers, and we need to build our case on facts not skewed data. The partial correction sheet from the LA City Planning Department is already calling out flaws in the tree report and the biological resources report. WHLA and our legal team are following the correspondence with the Planning Department. A partial list of corrections was kicked back to the developers via a 'Deemed Incomplete" letter from planning. It's quite extensive, and indicates that the developers have a lot of work to do. The building department has 90 days to issue a complete list, and then the devs have to provide the requested corrections. The 90-day clock started on November 21, 2025 and expires on February 19th. This doesn't mean that Planning will make a final decision by then, it just means that they have to issue a full list of corrections by that date, and the developers will have to respond to those.
WHLA has is working with the actual legislators in Sacramento who sponsored and drafted the bills. So far, discussions are preliminary, but there is an indication that the bills were not intended for neighborhoods like the Girard Tract. Our Sacramento legislative contacts are reaching out to California HCD and the State Attorney General. We will be following up with them on a continued basis to try and establish clarification, more rigorous definitions, and guidance with respect to the legislation that the developers are attempting to exploit to facilicate ministerial review.
WHLA is also focusing on longer term legislative changes and are working with local state leadership with respect to drafting amendments to the amendments. In addition, we have been in contact with an attorney who specializes in drafting legislation, and he has agreed to help in this area (if needed) pro bono.

Fire Egress & Being Prepared

There has been a bit of scuttle going around the neighborhood lately about AB 747. Let's take a look:

Here are the details on AB 747 and related legislation:

AB 747 (2019): This law amends California's Government Code to require that upon the next revision of a local hazard mitigation plan or housing element (on or after January 1, 2022), the safety element of a city or county's general plan must be updated to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios.
SB 99 (2019): Passed alongside AB 747, Senate Bill 99 requires the safety element to include information that identifies residential developments in hazard areas that do not have at least two emergency evacuation routes.
AB 1409 (2021): This bill built upon AB 747 by requiring that the safety element also identify evacuation locations (shelters, safe zones) for residents.
Purpose: These laws aim to ensure that local jurisdictions proactively plan for emergencies, particularly in high-risk, wildland-urban interface areas, by identifying potential chokepoints and ensuring adequate routes for residents to escape.

These regulations are part of a broader push to integrate evacuation planning into local safety elements, often impacting the approval process for new development projects in fire-prone areas.

As of mid-2025, the City of Los Angeles has faced criticism for not having completed or publicly released detailed evacuation studies in full compliance with AB 747, which requires local governments to identify, analyze, and map evacuation routes for wildfire and other natural disaster scenarios. While the City is in the process of attempting to update its Safety Element to meet these requirements, investigations by local officials and media have found that detailed simulations and analysis of route capacity are currently lacking.

Key Findings on AB 747 Compliance in Los Angeles:

Missing Analysis: Reports from July 2025 indicated that the City of Los Angeles's safety element does not include the required, detailed analysis of evacuation route capacity and viability, instead listing this critical task as "ongoing".
Concerns Over Transparency: The City's Planning Department has previously indicated that, due to security concerns regarding potential terrorism targets, some specific evacuation route details are not made public. This is dubious.
Political Action: Due to the lack of progress, Los Angeles Councilmembers Traci Park and Katy Yaroslavsky filed a motion (CF 25-0848) in July 2025 demanding a report on the status of the City's compliance with AB 747 and an evaluation of evacuation infrastructure.
Regional Contrast: In contrast to the City, the County of Los Angeles has included, as of 2025, an analysis in its safety element that addresses AB 747 requirements.

The City Council is currently pushing for the implementation of these studies, particularly for high-risk areas like the Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and other Westside neighborhoods. There is a pending call for the city to show it can safely evacuate residents, especially following recent fire events.

That all sounds good, but the problem is the City of Los Angeles is huge and complex. City officials don't have the resources (personnel or funding) to come up with evacuations routes for every single WUI in an efficient, expedient manner. This could leave residents waiting years for evacuation plans to coalesce.

In light of the fact that it seems we can't rely on the city to come up with an evacuation plan for us, WHLA is looking into hiring an engineering firm to do a detailed fire egress capacity study, that would include an evacuation analysis.

This is critical, particularly since our community has very limited evacuation route possibilities. Your donations to WHLA will, in part, go to fund the evacuation study and develop a neighborhood response plan.

From there, we can meet with local fire officials and get together as a community to come up with evacuation zones and guidelines.

We are looking at an engineering firm that uses AI combined with other GAN based computer modeling to run multiple simulations (similar to a Monte Carlo method) that will compute results based on variables that stem from decades long wind historical data, climate change data, topology, fire history, and more.

Of note, Jamie Hall is currently working on a case regarding Fire Safe Regulations and the city's lack of upholding them in several cases. An excerpt from the injunctive relief petition is as follows:

"The City is responsible for enforcement of the Fire Safe Regulations within the VHFHSZ in its jurisdiction. The City must provide CAL FIRE with notice of applications for building permits, tentative parcel maps, tentative maps,use permits and other developments in the VHFHSZ. (§ 1270.04.) The City shall ensure that the applicable sections of the Fire Safe Regulations become a condition of approval of any permit, development approval or map. (§ 1270.04(c).)"

So there is a lot that is in play here, and it's complex. We are very fortunate to have Jamie Hall advocating for us.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE ON THIS AS WE NARROW DOWN STUDY RESOURCES AND COSTS.