Rebuilding of Homes Lost in Fires Begins on the Barona Reservation

In one of the first rebuilding efforts after the Southern California wildfires, contractors set wooden foundation frames Monday for seven new homes on the Barona Reservation.

“We have to go through plan checks and we go through inspections and all that,” said David Baron, a Barona spokesman. “But we don’t have all the red tape they do in the non-tribal community.”

In San Diego County, fewer than 10 permits for rebuilding single-family houses have been issued since the wildfires, said Phil Bunn, the county’s building chief. The time it takes for architects to draw up blueprints is probably the reason few people have come to the department with proposals for approval, he said.

“The rebuilding effort will take another three to nine months before people even get in here with their plans,” Bunn said.

The county is trying to shave 10 days off the 15-day permit review process by adding staff and allowing architects to certify that their plans conform to California codes, Bunn said. In the meantime, the county has issued more than 300 permits for mobile homes.

Because the Barona tribe processes its own applications, owns the land and acts as general contractor, reservation officials don’t have to wait to hear back from other agencies, Baron said. The tribe plans to finish 26 new houses by April.

Families who signed up for the Barona tribe’s wide-scale reconstruction effort chose from five floor plans of 1,500- to 1,900-square-foot houses. The one-story, stucco-faced homes feature fire-retardant roofs and three or four bedrooms.

The roughly 100 people who are waiting for their houses are living with relatives, renting apartments in nearby cities or staying in the tribe’s hotel.

The tribe is paying for these living arrangements and the building of the homes. Tribal members will pay back the construction costs, using insurance money or their own savings.

The money for the reconstruction will come from the tribe’s general fund, Baron said. He said Barona officials have decided not to release financial figures.

Donna Morafcik, spokeswoman for the Building Industry Assn. in San Diego, estimated the cost of the plans to be about $95 to $125 per square foot.

The Cedar fire destroyed about 40 houses on the Barona Reservation. Several families are supervising their own construction. Other buildings were rental properties.

So far, the federal government has given out about $14 million in grants for fire reconstruction in San Diego County, a FEMA spokesman said.

Several victims of the Old fire in the Del Rosa neighborhood of San Bernardino began building their replacement homes about a week and a half ago.