Los Angeles could block Lineage Logistics from rebuilding its burned-out Boyle Heights cold-storage warehouse and hit the company with fines up to $1 million per violation, under two motions the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee is scheduled to vote on Tuesday, Aug. 25.

The vote marks the sharpest escalation yet in a months-long standoff between city officials and the company, which has missed multiple deadlines to remove roughly 88 million pounds of rotting food from the facility at 1400 S. Los Palos St. since a June 17 fire burned for eight days.

Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, who represents the 14th District where the warehouse sits, has said she does not want any permits issued to Lineage until a full investigation into the cause of the fire is complete. She is also pushing an interim control ordinance that would prohibit demolition, building and land-use permits for large cold-storage warehouses near homes, schools, parks, day care centers and libraries in Boyle Heights, according to Spectrum News.

One motion would raise the penalty for notices of violation or noncompliance from $25,000 to as much as $1 million, according to the committee agenda. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has already issued 25 notices of violation to Lineage after receiving more than 4,200 odor complaints between July 12 and Aug. 5.

Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order pausing the rebuild after Lineage submitted permits to reconstruct the facility. On Aug. 21, Bass said the company could no longer be trusted and that neither Lineage nor building owner Chill Build deserved to rebuild, telling LA Magazine that Lineage had "moved the goalpost, and then they failed again."

Chill Build owns the building. Lineage operates the warehouse.

Lineage acknowledged on Aug. 24 that its widely reported "104%" cleanup figure was misleading, as The LA Local reported. The company had been measuring weight removed against its own estimates of total food at the time of the fire, producing numbers above 100% even though waste remained inside. In a community update on Aug. 23, Lineage said Freezer 2 had been demolished and cleared, while Freezer 1, the remaining structure, was 92% free of food waste. The company pushed its completion target to Aug. 30.

The health toll has been significant. A St. John's Community Health report found that 469 of 1,306 patients seen at mobile clinics dispatched after the fire were dealing with fire-related exposure issues, including respiratory infections, eye disorders and asthma flare-ups. The City Council voted 13-0 on Aug. 19 to extend Bass's local emergency declaration for another 60 days.

On Aug. 13, before the first missed deadline, Jurado said in a statement: "I am deeply disappointed and angry. For nearly two months, families in Boyle Heights have lived with unbearable odors, flies and pests, truck traffic, uncertainty, and disruption to their homes, businesses, and daily lives."

A Lineage representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the PLUM vote. The committee's recommendations would still require full City Council approval. A separate AQMD deadline for Lineage to complete disinfection and deodorization of the remaining freezer is set for Thursday, Aug. 27.