PCH Safety Project Shelved To Pay For Land Purchase

Malibu plans to cancel a project to widen P C H … to pay for land purchases.

KBUU News has learned that the plan to pay 42.5 million dollars to buy vacant land in the Civic Center and at Point Dume will have a cost … along P C H.

It will mean indefinite delay of a 3 point 5 million dollar project to widen shoulders along Pacific Coast Highway.

the plan was to widen shoulders in eastern malibu …to move parked cars back from the white strip … make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.

That’s on hold now.

On Tuesday … the city will ask four other cities in western L-A county for permission to shift that transportation money away from widening P C H shoulders … to instead buy vacant land at the Civic Center and Point Dume.

The money comes from Metro sales tax revenue … that is earmarked for transportation projects.

The city says parks could be built with that transportation money … so long as parking lots at the parks be used for park and ride lots.

There is virtually no demand for park and ride lots in Malibu.

And park and ride lots were not identified as a need in any of the P C H safety studies.

And the plan to cancel the shoulder widening was not disclosed in any of the reports about the funding the vacant land purchase.

On Tuesday … Malibu has to go ask Calabasas… Agoura Hills … Hidden Hills and Westlake Village for permission to do this.

The city admits that the Malibu Park and Ride Lots are not included in the regional Metro R project list.

But it says Calabasas sis something like this several years ago.

Malibu is in a similar position … goes the city argument ,… because the property recently became available … and the city needed to act quickly to acquire the parcels.