Altadena Homeowners Can Join County Rebuild Inspection Workshop Thursday

Los Angeles County Public Works will hold a two-hour online workshop Thursday, Sept. 24, on the inspection process for rebuilding projects in unincorporated areas, including Altadena.

The session, titled “Rebuilding Together: Navigating Inspections,” runs from 1 to 3 p.m. on Zoom and requires registration. According to the county’s announcement, it will cover how inspections work, practices that keep a project on schedule and what comes next in the rebuilding process, and will include a question-and-answer portion. County representatives are scheduled to explain how to request inspections through EPIC-LA, the county’s online permitting system, and how to avoid common delays.

The process applies directly in Altadena. Because the community is unincorporated, its rebuild permits and inspections are handled by county Building and Safety rather than by a city department. Public Works directs Eaton Fire rebuilding questions to the Altadena One-Stop Center, reachable at (626) 424-6743 or BSD-Altadena@dpw.lacounty.gov.

Since July 1, 2022, Building and Safety has accepted inspection requests for unincorporated county projects only through EPIC-LA, according to the division’s website. Requests by phone call or voicemail are no longer taken. Permit holders log in at epicla.lacounty.gov, select the permit and request the inspection, then receive a confirmation email. The division also offers virtual inspections by smartphone or tablet for some inspection types.

Alex Athenson, an architect and co-founder of the nonprofit Foothill Catalog Foundation, told the Altadena Town Council in August that about 57% of fire-impacted single-family lots had submitted some type of permit. More than 3,000 permits had been applied for, he said, while 91 projects, roughly 2%, had been completed. Athenson said the figures came from publicly available county data analyzed by his organization, and he cautioned that a permit application is one step in a long process.

The workshop is part of the county’s Rebuilding Together series, whose past sessions on licensed contractors, self-certified plan review, pre-approved plans and funding gaps are posted with slides and video on the LA County Recovers website. A companion session on the Unified Permit Process is listed there as postponed until further notice.

Public Works says reasonable ADA and Title VI accommodations, interpreting services and materials in other languages are available free by calling (626) 940-7998.