The City of Malibu provides the following resources to support property owners during the rebuild process after the Palisades fire. These tools will help you access important information about your property, submit development applications, and understand regulatory requirements that may affect your rebuilding plans.

Property Information & Assessment

Interactive mapping tool that provides access to City geographical information to assist with your rebuild project.

As part of a rebuild design, property owners are required to consider building in an established Primary View Determination. In order to assist property owners with their rebuild design, the City has added all Primary View Determinations to the City’s GIS. User Tip: Under the Layers List, select the Primary View Determination checkbox and zoom in.

The LA County Assessor’s office has given the City digital copies of assessor building records for all properties affected by the Broad, Franklin, and Palisades Fire.  These records typically contain a site plan of structures on the property as well as the square footage of each structure, which are important pieces of information in establishing what existed on property prior to the recent fires. To access those records please:

  1. Property Owner: File a request with MalibuRecovers.org, subject “Request for Assessor Building Records.”
  2. Property Owner Representative: File a request with MalibuRecovers@MalibuCity.org Owner Authorization Form

The CCC Public Data Portal provides access to property records, plans and permits that the California Coastal Commission has scanned and uploaded including coastal zones and environmental information. This is another resource for property owners to search for plans if necessary.

Development Applications & Permits

Applicants or owners can submit projects, view status updates, and manage documents and fees. You will have access to individual projects, real-time updates, departments’ revisions, required documents, and fee information. Other features include managing inspection requests and researching public documents.

The City of Malibu has launched a Fee Waiver Program to help property owners rebuild by eliminating City planning and building permit fees for like-for-like, owner-occupied homes. To save residents time and hassle, City staff will prepare the required affidavit on behalf of each qualifying property owner. After notarization, the City will record the affidavit through the City Clerk’s Office, streamlining the entire process. To learn more aboure the Fee Waiver Program, read through the City’s Fee Waiver Handout and visit our Fee Waiver page.

City of Malibu is partnering with Archistar to launch the new eCheck AI Pilot, a cutting-edge pre-submittal tool that reviews building plans for compliance with zoning rules and Building Codes using artificial intelligence. Click here to view step-by-step instructions.

Disclaimer:

Archistar is an AI or artificial-intelligence-based tool, and any information you enter may be used by the system to improve or develop its AI capabilities. By using the Archistar eCheck tool, you represent and warrant that you own any and all plans and drawings you upload or have obtained all necessary rights and permissions from the architect or other copyright holder to submit them for analysis. Uploaded materials are stored and processed solely by Archistar, and the City of Malibu has no responsibility or liability for Archistar’s handling, storage, use, security, or retention of those materials. The City does not operate the Archistar eCheck system or its outputs, and the tool’s results do substitute for the City’s formal plan review and approval process. Use of this tool is entirely voluntary, and you assume all risks associated with its use.

Zoning & Land Use Planning

Environmental & Hazard Analysis

Aerial Photos

Access historical aerial photos from 1993 to help establish the previous condition of your property.

How to locate your property:

  1. Open the sheet index at the top of the list of PDF files
  2. Locate the general area of your home based on the numbered rectangle. This may require zooming in, and you may need to open more than one numbered rectangle to identify your parcel if the property is located on the border of two numbered rectangles.
    • You also may need to utilize another mapping program such as Google Maps or the Malibu Community Viewer on the city’s homepage to help you further pinpoint the property as the topography/road locations may have changed over the years in some instances due to fires, development, road re-alignment etc.
  3. Open the corresponding numbered rectangle in the list of PDFs below per the sheet index
  4. Save to your computer

If you are unable to locate the aerial you need, please contact staff in the Planning Department, or file a request for public information at www.malibucity.org/records via NextRequest.

The California Coastal Records Project (CCRP), a non-profit, hosts an aerial photographic database that has been documenting the California coastline periodically since 2002. The website also provides a baseline of how this section of the coast appeared as recently as 2024 vs. how it appears in February of 2025 after the fires.

Visit the Coastal Records Project portal below our check out our CA Coastline Aerial Photos page for Malibu aerial photos by neighborhood.

Maps back to 1928 with many available for download or purchase through FrameFinder.