Civic Center Sewer Will Affect Residents On Malibu Beach, Civ Ctr Condos And Malibu Knolls

Residents along Malibu Beach and in the condos along Civic Center Way have a big decision coming next year.

Either they can vote themselves into an expensive sewer district … or face 10 thousand a dollar fines and a ban on even small construction.

Malibu’s city council got an update this week on the state water board’s requirement aimed at reducing the amount of human-caused fertilizer flowing into Malibu Lagoon and onto Surfrider Beach.

The state says nitrogen and phosphorus is obviously coming out of septic tanks … and causing bacteria and virus to bloom in Malibu Lagoon and on Surfrider Beach.

City public works director Rob DuBoux told the city council late Monday … he’s got  a proposed deal with the state to move the Serra Retreat neighborhood out of the Phase Two sewer area … where sewer would have to be installed in the next three years.

Serra retreat may escape adding sewer completely … if testing of the lagoon shows that the Phase 1 nd Phase 2 sewers are reducing the pollution load.

Public works director Rob DuBoux says Serra Retreat homes may get exempted from the sewer district  … if tests show that houses on the beach and west of there lagoon are no longer emitting crud into there Malib Lagoon. 

The state … he says … has agreed to test the results of the Phase 2 addition … if it is built.

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“It’s that little change about the feasibility study gives us a little more options … and ways that we can kind of meet those water quality standards in Serra Retreat … rather than force all those homeowners to put in a sewer line.

“I think there’s there’s a lot of different options and strategies that we can look at and look at … like upgrade septic systems … and I think that option but we just gotta flush out all these different ways and see what’s even possible.”

The study .. to flesh out the options … may cost 2 million dollars. 

But in exchange for Serra Retreat coming out of the next phase … Phase 2 … beachfront houses in the Malibu Colony area will get moved in to the Phase 2 area by the state water board.. 

The Phase 2 sewer construction would be mandatory for residents along the beach from the lagoon entrance … including Malibu Colony and beachfront houses up to about one mile to the west.

Also … for the condos along Civic Center Way … and for houses overlooking the lagoon from the Malibu Knolls area. 

They have to vote to form an assessment district to pay for it.

If they vote no … the state water board will literally ban them from flushing their toilets … they will not be allowed to dispose of any sewage in their septic tanks. 

The penalty for using their illegal septic tanks?

Fines of up to 10 thousand dollars per day … and prohibition of remodels or new construction.  

Property titles will be clouded … it will be hard to sell houses in that area.

Councilman Doug Stewart says the state is ordering Malibu to commit to spending millions … now. 

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“We’re going to be spending millions of dollars and with no indication that we are causing the oproblem.

“I think four or five years from now people are going to look at this and go ‘why did you approve this choice?’

DUBOUX: “Yeah you dopnt have any choice because it’s already … it’s in the water code that the prohibit septic systems in Serra Retreat.

“Sso that’s already a state code that’s prohibits that.”

Doug Stewart and Rob Duboux.

So now … the city and the state water board have reached a tentative agreement on a new sewer plan. 

Mandatory sewers for the beaches up to one mile west of the lagoon entrance.

Also .. mandatory sewers for the condos in the Civc Center area … and for houses in the Malibu Knolls area.

The agreement has yet to be formally approved by either body … and residents can either vote for it or suffer enormous financial pain.

The Regional Water Quality Control Board will vote on it after a public hearing on October 23rd.

The assessment district election will probably be in July 2027.

Sewer lines would be installed along Malibu Road and in the condos near Webster school and on Malibu Knolls in 2029.

Council member Steve Uhring lives in Malibu Knolls … and he has been opposing the sewers for years.

He says the county has no science behind its order. 

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“And at no place did they go out and test any of the septic systems of anybody in Malibu.

“They just made a decision at the end, they said they looked what was going on in the creek and ‘you guys gotta be polluting.’

“I know in Serra Retreat after Phase One you guys (Serra Retreat residents) went tested all your wells and they were clean – nothing.

“And I live in Malibu Knolls and if I pee it will be years … I’ll be dead before my stuff hits the ocean.”

The scientists at the water board would beg to differ. 

They say nitrogen and phosphorous from Malibu Lagoon area septic systems must be flowing down the hillsides … where councilman Uhring lives … and must be partially causing the high levels of human fertilizer in the water.

The city has to spend a lot of money to do the testing to either prove the possibility that the next phase of sewers … at the beaches and condos and Malibu Knolls … will fix the problem.

If that happens .. the Serr Retreat doesn’t have to spend millions on a third phase of sewers

Councilman Doug Stewart wonders about the costs … right now … for the city to study the issue. 

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“It’s unusual they say we’re gonna do this but we don’t know how much it is.

“Is it going to be a hundred thouSand dollars? Five thousand dollars? A million dollars?”

ROB DUBOUX: “It potentially could be over $2 million?”

STEWART [INCREDULOUS TONE]: “Over how much. 

DUBOUX: “Two.”

STEWART: “We’re offering a blank check for $2 million? 

DUBOUX: “I’m still working on that with the consultants to find out what that value is.”

STEWART: “Well, I’m telling you …  I don’t like this at all.”

SCE Power Cut Too Late To Save Altadena, NPR Investigation Says

Southern California Edison power lines in Altadena were malfunctioning much earlier on January Seventh than when a transmission line began to burn.

That’s the conclusion of the NPR investigative team … which aired a report this morning on the national network.

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“More than 200 distribution line malfunctions happened across LA on January 7th …  and three started specifically in Altadena.

“Where and when they happened telling.

“One of those Altadena malfunctions occurred at around 11 AM …. well before the fire sparked miles away.

“Another happened in West Altadena before 10 PM.

“The Eaton Fire front didn’t reach West Altadena until after 5 AM the next day … according to satellite imagery cited in a report release last week.”

That’s NPR reporter Kiara Eisner … who says NPR has determined that there were electrical line malfunctions all over the SCE service area …

And that was before the transmission towers in Eaton Fire apparently shorted out … causing one of the fires that combined to destroy virtually all of Altadena. 

NPR reported that power lines were left energized in Altadena as hurricane force winds ripped into the area … causing numerous flashovers and other electrical problems 

NPR quoted a Southern California Edison vice president of Distribution Operations  …

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REPORTER: “Raj Roy is vice president of SoCal Edison utility whose lines caused those problems.

RAJ ROY: “We may be taking a step back here. 

“It is clear here, this was a historic event. 

“So infrastructure being impacted by historic windspeed, being impacted by fire when you take it as a whole, it’s not uncommon it’s not uncommon for any type of utility to suffer damage to its infrastructure.”

But NPR reports that the power company did not activate it highly-publicized public safety power shut off system before the historic  broke out. 

NPR reporter Kara Eisner says SCE shut off the power only in some parts of Altadena the afternoon before the big fire. 

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“They did the de-energize some parts of Altadena.

“At around 3:30 PM on January 7th … the company’s records show that they shut down parts of two of circuits. 

“By 9:37 that night .. a county report shows that they turned two  more off. 

“But there are eight circuits that powered Altadena that they didn’t turn off at all.

“And despite the historic nature of the winds that day … the company stands by that decision.”

In Malibu … the company has been frequently criticized for turning off the power too often … and too soon. 

In Altadena … the NPR report indicates that SCE turned off the power too late.

Way too late. 

SM Has Sudden Problem With Major Parking Garage Next To Third Street Shopping Mall

Santa Monica has suddenly closed one of its downtown parking garages for emergency repairs.

The parking garage is at the corner of 4th and Broadway … and it’s the one used by Palisades high School students and staff to park near the temporary high school in the old Sears Building.

The santa Monica Lookout newspaper says the decision was made “to ensure public safety.”

Signs went up at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The city said the urgent repairs could last one month.

A Condition Assessment Report was just completed for the 56-year-old parking garage … just east of the Santa Monica Place shopping center.

“The City determined that the entire structure must close to vehicles while emergency repairs are completed,” officials said in a statement Wednesday.

The garage was built in 1969. … and in the 1980s … the ground floor was remodeled to add  retail tenants on the street level. 

The City’s Big Blue Bus and public restrooms are in that retail space.

Students are being told to park in nearby garages.

The unsafe parking garage is just one more problem for Santa Monica… Struggling under a crippling budget crisis and a disappearing retail sector in the vibrant Santa Monica promenade area after 7 o’clock.