Las Virgenes Municipal Water District is here to help our valued customers after this major catastrophe – the Woolsey Fire.

FAQs for Customers Rebuilding 

View Letter to Impacted Customers

Download the Application for Conditional Approval

December 2022

At their last regular board meting of 2022, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD/District) Board of Directors (Board) adopted Resolution 2615, granting an extension of time to provide relief to specified customers who lost their home in the Woolsey Fire.  This action further signals the District's commitment to provide relief to those who are eligible and may not have been able to rebuild yet due to circumstances out of their control.

The Woolsey Fire broke out on the afternoon of Thursday, November 8, 2018, in Ventura County near the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, quickly spreading into the District's service area due to strong Santa Ana winds and a large amount of dry vegetation. Close to 400 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. On November 11, 2018, the Board declared a state of emergency for the District's service area due to the significant impacts of the Woolsey Fire and authorized actions to support the response and recovery effort. The General Manager was authorized to develop a policy, in coordination with local cities and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, to expedite the process and minimize the cost for customers to rebuild their homes.

Effective January 1, 2011, all new one- or two-family dwellings or townhomes are required to be constructed with residential fire sprinklers pursuant to the California Plumbing Code (California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 5). Approximately 216 of the homes destroyed in the Woolsey Fire were served through 3/4-inch water meters that may need to be upsized to 1-inch meters for the sole purpose of providing sufficient flow for new residential fire sprinklers. The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Code prescribes Capacity Fees and Water Conservation Fees that are applicable to customers upsizing their water meters; however, the subject fees can pose a financial hardship for underinsured customers whose homes were destroyed in the Woolsey Fire and who are seeking to rebuild.

On June 11, 2019, the Board adopted Resolution No. 2557, which established a policy to provide customers with a credit for an existing 3/4-inch water meter at the then-current rates for a 1-inch meter to offset the cost of the applicable Construction Fee and Water Conservation Fee, subject to the following conditions and criteria:

• The credit applies only to one- or two-family dwellings or townhomes that were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the Woolsey Fire;
• The replacement dwelling is less than or equal in size to the destroyed dwelling plus 5%, as measured by square footage, and without the addition of accessory units or outbuildings;
• The customer provides evidence to the satisfaction of the General Manager that his or her insurance will not, or is insufficient to, cover the cost of the subject fees;
• The customer pays the applicable meter, administration and installation charges pursuant to Section 3-2.205 of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Code;
• The fees for any subsequent upgrade to the meter shall be figured with credit provided for a 3/4-inch meter rather than the larger 1-inch meter;
• The credit shall be available upon request by an eligible customer through December 31, 2021.

Since adoption of the policy, 29 customers have requested relief for upgrading to a 1-inch meter. Of these customers, seven have been approved. The remaining 22 customers who requested a larger meter did not qualify under the policy or needed to submit additional information that was requested of them. Most homes that were destroyed in the fire have not yet been rebuilt either because of delays with receiving building permits from the city or county or because many of the homes were underinsured and the homeowners cannot afford to rebuild.

On May 4, 2021, the Board directed staff to return with a resolution to extend the eligibility deadline by 12 months and on June 1, 2021, the Board adopted Resolution No. 2594 that extended relief by an additional year to December 31, 2022. Due to delays in processing permits and the long duration of time that many customers are encountering to rebuild their homes, staff concluded that the deadline be extended by another two years to better serve our impacted customers and to account for the actual pace of rebuilding efforts. The extension would result in a new deadline of December 31, 2024.

In addition to the time extension, the Board established that relief be limited to those customers who owned the affected property at the time of the Woolsey Fire and not extended to customers who have subsequently purchased an affected property. This rationale is to provide relief from financial hardship to customers who lost their homes and not to third parties who purchased an affected property since the time of the Woolsey Fire.

June 11, 2019

On Tuesday June 11, 2019, the LVMWD Board approved a resolution to reduce and minimize the financial hardship to affected customers by waiving the differential cost in capacity fees between a ¾-inch meter and 1-inch meter if certain criteria are met and an application for a meter is made by December 31, 2021

Complete Press Release

Relief for Customers Rebuilding after the Woolsey Fire

 
January 15, 2019

We are in the process of cutting/capping water service connections or physically removing meters at properties where a structure was completely lost as required by the Office of Emergency Services before Cal Recycle will clear debris from properties.  This is so that work associated with debri removal and clearing properties doesn’t cause a major line break that could cause flooding on the property and interfere with the clean-up process.

Customers may request for their meters to be re-installed by the District by calling Customer Service at 818-251-2200.

 
November 12, 2018

LVMWD Board of Directors authorized the General Manager to provide relief to customers affected by the Woolsey Fire and to facilitate rebuilding efforts in the following ways: 

• Waive water and wastewater charges for the billing period during which a home was destroyed or rendered uninhabitable due to the fire
• Reduce bills for water consumed to reflect historical usage, on a case-by-case basis, for customers whose homes were not rendered uninhabitable, but who used an extraordinary amount of water to protect their properties.
• Develop a policy, in coordination with local cities and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, to expedite the process and minimize the cost for customers to rebuild their homes

November 12, 2018 video of the Special Board Meeting

Information for customers who lost their homes

The United States Small Business Association has assistance for businesses of all sizes, nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters. USSBA Information here.

Please call Customer Care at (818) 251-2200 for any assistance or inquiries related to the Woolsey Fire.  You may also send an e-mail to customer_service@lvmwd.com

This page is still under construction and will be updated as more information becomes available.  

 
The map above shows the extent of the LVMWD service area impacted by the Woolsey Fire.