One of the first surprises for anyone who moves to the Los Angeles area and starts driving around the more distant cities is the absence of what Brazilians call the periferia — the rundown outskirts. Jason Lanzarini describes it in the first episode of Cadê Moradia: you drive through a stretch of open land, turn into a subdivision and, suddenly, there's a shopping center with a big supermarket, a pharmacy, fast food and a school. "Man, you're in a big city," he sums up.

Realtor Mariness Chata would rather not even use the word periferia — "it's not the same thing," she says. And she explains why: the law makes whoever builds pay for the infrastructure the new neighborhood will need.

"If you're a builder and you're going to build, say, 300 houses, you have to pay the city millions of dollars and already set aside a commercial area, an area for a school." — Mariness Chata, on the episode

Whoever creates the demand pays for it

In California, the city (or county) can charge developers what are known as impact fees, fees that cover the impact of the new subdivision on streets, sewers, parks, public safety and other services. The general rule is in the Mitigation Fee Act, part of the state Government Code. There are also specific charges:

• Schools: school districts can charge a per-square-foot fee on new residential construction, under the Education Code, to fund classrooms.
• Parks: the Quimby Act of 1975 allows cities to require land for parks — or an equivalent payment — from anyone who subdivides a parcel into lots.
• Access and services: roads, freeway connections, water and sewer lines and, in many cases, space for fire stations and retail are part of the project's conditions of approval.

Mariness points out that all of this is part of the construction cost — and, of course, is passed on to the buyer. It's one of the reasons a new home in a planned subdivision costs more than the structure alone would suggest.

Planning for 50 years

Jason says a builder friend, used to the Brazilian market, had a hard time breaking into California because of this. One line he heard from him stuck: here, builders don't plan for 5 or 10 years out, they plan for 50. Mariness adds that the laws change all the time and keep getting stricter — because of earthquakes, mountain wildfires and the environment — and that, since the region depends so heavily on cars, road access is a central part of the plan: if there's no freeway, the project has to spell out how people will get in and out.

The rule applies mostly to what has been built in recent decades. Older cities grew differently and adapted to the requirements as they appeared.

The neighbors get a say too

Another difference mentioned in the episode: opening certain businesses in a residential neighborhood isn't up to the owner alone. Jason gives the example of a gas station, which doesn't open just "because it's a good spot." Mariness explains that some kinds of business affect a residential area negatively, and others positively — which is why the city has to consult the neighborhood.

In practice, activities like that usually require a special permit, the conditional use permit, with a public hearing. Residents within a radius set by the city (usually a few hundred feet) are notified and can weigh in before the decision. The size of the radius and the activities that require the permit vary from city to city.

When the supermarket arrives, the neighborhood changes

The effect of a retail anchor on an outlying area comes up in the conversation. Jason mentions Phelan, in the high desert, where the arrival of a big supermarket brought other businesses, a bigger school and more demand for homes. Mariness notes it isn't just the store: it brings jobs and attracts businesses that depend on customer traffic, and it's that combination that changes the area.

When the plan doesn't pan out: California City

Planning can also fail. California City, in Kern County, was laid out in the late 1950s to be a great desert metropolis. The streets were drawn and thousands of lots were sold, but the population and infrastructure never arrived at the scale envisioned. Today the city has about 15,000 residents spread over an enormous area, and much of the grid is still empty — a reminder that a plan on paper is no guarantee of a real neighborhood.

Sources and verification

• Episode 1 of the Cadê Moradia podcast (February 2026), with Mariness Chata and Jason Lanzarini.
• California Government Code, sections 66000 et seq. (Mitigation Fee Act) — impact fees on new development.
• California Government Code, section 66477 (Quimby Act, 1975) — land or fees for parks in subdivisions.
• California Education Code, section 17620 — school fees on new residential construction.
• U.S. Census Bureau — 2020 Census: population of California City.

This topic comes from the full episode — watch it:

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