In the November 2024 county election, now-Supervisor Monica Martinez won a decisive victory to represent the 5th District over Christopher Bradford.

Bradford’s campaign primarily focused on the aftermath of the 2020 Santa Cruz Mountains CZU fires and the obstacles and difficulties victims faced in rebuilding.

In her campaign, Martinez also pledged to work to expedite county regulations to help CZU victims. That work needs to be a priority, even in a county that is still trying to pay for recovery costs from major storms that hit the area over the past two winters.

More than four and a half years after the fires, progress in rebuilding in the CZU burn region continues to be agonizingly slow.

In a report (Sentinel, Feb. 8) by Ethan Baron of our Bay Area News Group about the lack of progress in rebuilding, Ana Wold, whose small Boulder Creek home burned to the ground in 2020, said she’s decided to walk away from a half-built replacement and is putting it up for sale.

“It’s been hell, absolute hell, and I have been spending money like it’s water,” said Wold. “I wish to God I didn’t start building.”

The CZU fires destroyed about 700 homes in Santa Cruz County. Of those, 127 residences have been rebuilt and another 134 are under construction, according to the county. By comparison, in Sonoma County, which also experienced wildfires in 2020, construction is complete on nearly 60% of parcels ravaged by the LNU Lightning Complex blazes and 44% of those burnt by the Glass Fire.

It raised the anger level exponentially among CZU victims when, last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to suspend environmental requirements for rebuilding and cleanup after the catastrophic Los Angeles fires. CZU victims asked, why there and not here?

Newsom’s office said in a statement that California “is constantly refining our approach, to be responsive to the unique circumstances of each incident, while applying experiences from prior disasters elsewhere in the state.”

“It’s been slower than anybody could’ve expected,” said Bruce McPherson, the long-time 5th District supervisor who retired from office at the end of the year. “We didn’t have the staff in the county and we didn’t have the funding to give adequate resources to the planning and public works departments immediately for such a huge undertaking.”

The BANG accounts of CZU fire victims along with a 2024 county grand jury report show a county government “unprepared to meet the needs of overwhelmed residents.” Among the barriers have been a widespread lack of sufficient insurance (a situation getting worse, as our Feb. 9 Editorial on State Farm Insurance revealed), the onset of the COVID pandemic, steep terrain in the mountains, aging septic systems and exorbitant construction costs.

The grand jury report on post-CZU recovery concluded that “a substantial number of those who lost their homes simply walked away without rebuilding.” Many “found themselves under-insured to the degree that they simply could not bear the cost to rebuild.” Rebuilding requires permits related to environmental health, fire access and geologic hazards, with surveys, studies, reports and permits typically costing around $21,000 per property.

County officials cited to BANG the area’s unique challenges including needed septic upgrades and landslide risk. Many homeowners were forced to comply with state requirements for 10,000 gallons of water storage.

But many victims, according to the grand jury report, were so dispirited by the “lengthy and often bewildering permitting process, that no amount of money could see them through to completion.”

Overall construction costs tripled amid the pandemic, the grand jury reported, so a 1,500-square-foot house that would have cost $350,000 to rebuild pre-COVID could cost more than $1 million after the fire.

While the arguments, post-LA fires, are raging over rebuilding in risky wildfire-prone areas, the reality for many homeowners is that their older homes were affordable alternatives in our outrageously expensive county.

No more.