BATF Conducts Small Test Fire Above Sunset In Palisades

A very small fire was set last night on a burned out ridge … just east of Palisades Drive.

It was the Bureau of Alcohol…. Tobacco Firearms and Explosives … trying to get a handle on fire spread and smoke dispersal at the point of origin of the Palisades Fire.

LA Mayor Karen Bass wanted the public to know … this was a controlled burn in a very tightly controlled experiment. 

BASSFIRE

“I just hope people understand that they will be safe, that this will be controlled. 

“That the ATF will announce specific results within the next couple of months.  

The fire tests will resume again tonight and tomorrow night. 

Given local wind flows this time of year … it is possible that some smoke odor could spread into Malibu …. But the fire last night was really small. 

City Will Appoint An Ambassador To Go Between Fire Victims And City Staff

Don’t call him a “czar.” 

Call him “an ambassador.”

One resident called him “a gift of God.”

Abe Roy has been appointed the city’s liaison for fire victims … a volunteer civil engineer with extensive homebuilding experience. 

Roy’s house was one of the very few to survive the Palisades Fire up on Big Rock Mesa.

The city council Monday night heard a dozen Big zRock residents who praised the help and assistance that Roy has offered them.

John Tetterette 

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“The city has never seen a catastrophe like this before … ever.

“And I’ve been hearing tonight as I’m sitting here how terribly understaffed you are not even talking about the fire rebuild about all the other things I’ve been on your agenda. How are you are severely understaffed you’re overwhelmed.

“You can’t keep up with things and here’s an opportunity to help the community rebuild. We have a village member here tonight. Who’s willing to take this on on a volunteer basis, he’s very qualified for this. He’s very qualified for this.

Abe Roy leads the task force for Malibu Rebuilds.

He is now the leading candidate for the volunteer to help the 737 homeowners work with the city. 

Two Council Members Will Lead Talks On Proposed Beachfront Relief Sewer

Building a sewer to serve 330 burned down houses in eastern Mallbu may become a reality. 

The Malibu city council voted late Monday night to press ahead … appointing a committee of two council members to study alternatives.

The idea is to build a pipeline to carry untreated sewage down Pacific Coast Highway to the city limits of Los Angeles … at Coastline Drive. 

There … an existing city of LA pipe would take it down the coast the airport … where it would be added to the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant.

That plant pulls clean water out of the sewage … and injects it into the ground … where some of it is pulled out and pumped out to customers … including in Malibu.

Marianne Riggins and Steve Uhring will examine the alternatives.  The estimated cost is around $118 million, to be assessed to the beachfront landowners.

Malibu is gambling that the sewer line will save homeowners of burned oceanfront houses a lot of money.

They won’t have to build concrete vaults under their houses … next to the waves … to protect individual home sewage plants. 

But there are still numerous questions facing the oceanfront rebuilds … the biggest one being the condition of Pacific Coast Highway … which may need extensive repairs below it to protect it from ocean wave action. 

Self Certification Rejected For Now By City Council

The idea of self certification .. allowing architects and technicians to sign off on their own engineering for fire rebuilds … was shot down at City Hall Monday night. 

By a 3 to 2 vote … the city council put the idea on ice. 

The vote came after lords of testimony on favor … and against.

One beachfront resident … Darren Graves … said self certification might work on inland houses.

But not on the beachfront construction.

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“Previously, my neighbor legally installed a hot tub on his balcony … a balcony that sat on wood piles.

“It was cantilevered off of those wood piles and it was not designed for whatever a hotter weights, and he broke the foundation of his building.

“His house which was built to the property line and it leaned into our property … and it destabilized us so that we had to fix our piers in order to keep our house from falling towards the eastward side.

“All this because of his hot tub.

“That’s the risk of self certification.”

Now .. that leaning hot tub was not certified by any architect.

But it shows there dangers of not having city review of engineering plans along the oceanfront.

What harms one house … harms many houses. 

From the city council … there was just one question … 

What does city building safety official Yolanda Bundy think about self-certification?

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BRICE SILVERSTEIN: “Are you opposed to this?”

YOLANDA BUNDY: “Yes.”

And down it went.

Malibu’s architects … who were in favor of self certification … were told to come back with a more specific plan.

Only 9 Of 330 Burned Oceanfront Properties Fail To Indicate Plans To Remove Debris, Deadline For All Debris Removal Is Jul 31

Nine properties in Malibu …. all on the oceanfront … have yet to submit a fire debris removal program.

Those property owners now have a June First deadline to clear their property of fire damage …. set by the Malibu city council early yesterday morning.  

Countywide …. every one of the 12 thousand properties burned in the January fires in all of LA County now has to pull permits by June First for debris removal.

And get it cleared by July First. 

Of course … the majority of houses … 500 of them  in Malibu … are being cleared by the Army Corps of Engineers.

They will be scraped off before the June First deadline. 

The city has now made a deal with LA County … the 8 nonrepsonsive properties will be entered under the county health department’s police powers … and scraped clear. 

The cost will be fronted by the city … but the city will have some sort of legal powers to recover the money.

They may have a lien placed on the property … and if it is abandoned or sold … there city gets its money back … on those 8 properties. 

Burned land owners now have to get permits pulled by June First … and property cleaned up by July First … under the new county health code change. 

Malibu Businesses Are Deserted, And Local Owners Need Help

Last night at 6 … there was one couple eating dinner at a once-crowded Civic Center restaurant … and one guy at the bar.

Typical. 

Malibu’s businesses are barely hanging on.

The city is empty.

Parking lots are vacant.

Even weekends … crowds are sparse. 

On Monday night … the city council approved setting aside 300 thousand dollars in tax money … reserve funds for a series of special grants … for direct handouts to Malibu businesses.

Malibu business owner Yvonne Delarosa Green owns the High Tide Collective … on PCH just between the Malibu Pier and the road closure checkpoint.

She says things are bleak on Malibu’s commercial strip. 

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“The sad thing is … in the last two weeks, four businesses have shut down forever, small businesses.

“They’re not coming back.

“Since I was last year two weeks ago, a few small business owners are being sued by their landlords, demanding full rent, and in one week of these PCH closer closures after this disaster so that’s what we’re dealing with here.

“And I know you guys all care about the character of Malibu but as I stand here, it’s it’s disappearing is like before our eyes.

“We need an emergency eviction moratorium, and a lease renegotiation or walkaway provision.

“Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow.

“Today.

“Because any more delays … it just means more small business are gonna shut down and then there’s no going back with that.”

The problem is … it’s not clear that government has the authority to order a business eviction moratorium.  Or a rent moratorium

The acting city manager says the California State Constitution does not allow grants of public funds … unless there is a public benefit.   Joe Toney … at Monday night’s city council meeting. 

TONEY GIFT

“A key to this that we need to add is that there has to be a public benefit. 

“So there has to be a finding that there is a public benefit … that there is not a gift of public funds.

“So our application will have to also have some area for a justification to describe that benefit to the public.”

Barbara Bruderlin … director of the Malibu Palisades Chamber of Commerce … says this is an emergency.

And she says the chamber wants a rent freeze for commercial properties.

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“I would suggest, in terms of moratorium on evictions, a listening session just for the landlords and the city …. Just to hear what they have to say.

“And perhaps come to some kind of an understanding about how they could help and maybe take tips for each other how we can get through this.”

Malibu business consultant Mikke Pierson says the city’s business association … the Chamber of Commerce … needs financial help. 

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“What we wanna do is … is we want to launch a visit Malibu promotional campaign … targeted outreach … to let people know Malibu’s open … that Malibu is vibrant … that Malibu is accessible by June First.

“Partner with our hotels are surf shops or restaurants are artist or cultural centers promotions experiences, the whole thing.

“We want to run a campaign … and to do that … to be honest … what we need … we need 100 grand.” 

Pierson … a former city council member  … says the Malibu business community is slipping away. 

The city council has directed the staff to work out details on the city business grant program … and come back with recommendations.