Fire Victims May Get Break on Permit Fees

Having waived building permit fees for earthquake and flood victims, Ventura County officials said Tuesday they would consider granting the same relief to victims of the 1993 Green Meadow fire.

The Board of Supervisors voted to extend until Feb. 6, 1996, the waiver of permit fees for victims of the Northridge earthquake and to expand its scope to include recent flood victims. 6, 1996.

At the request of Supervisor Frank Schillo, the board also asked its staff to bring back a report next week on how much it would cost the county to grant a similar waiver to fire victims.

Schillo, whose 2nd District includes the Green Meadow area, said some residents were still seeking to rebuild homes and other structures lost in the blaze that charred 38,152 acres.

Although dozens of structures were lost in the fire, only a handful of homes were damaged or destroyed, said Thomas Berg, director of the county’s resources management agency. So waiving fees for fire victims would not be very costly to the county, he said.

Meanwhile, the county so far has waived $11,600 in earthquake-related permit fees, and that amount could double this year as more people seek to rebuild, Berg said.

As for last month’s heavy rains, Berg said his office has received about half a dozen inquiries from flood victims about permit waivers. He said he does not expect to receive many more requests because few structures were damaged in the deluge.