Short answer
A different interior layout can be worth exploring within the former home’s outline. For its like-for-like route, the City of Los Angeles looks at the location, footprint and height of the former structure. Ask City Planning to review the actual changes you propose.
Start with a measured outline
For eligible City parcels, the published EO1 guidance allows up to 110% of the previous footprint and height, with the structure in substantially the same location. Footprint is the area the building occupies on the ground. A listing’s living-area figure cannot establish that outline. Prior permits, plans, assessor records and dated photos can help document it.
Draw two alternatives on the same survey
For example, moving a bedroom doorway may give a family a shorter route to the bathroom. Moving the entire bedroom wing toward the side fence changes the exterior outline. Ask your designer to overlay both alternatives on the old footprint, mark the distances to property lines, and draw the old and new roof profiles. That gives the planner a specific change to assess.
Check the route before developing the design
City Planning explains that additions outside the prior footprint can face current zoning requirements. Its guidance also describes an EO8 option for qualifying zoning-compliant single-family rebuilds in the Coastal Zone, with criteria involving bluff setbacks and biological resources. Take the overlay to the City’s Palisades planning staff. Ask which route they would consider for each option and what supporting documents they need before you commission detailed drawings.