The $5 million dollar Malibu pier restoration project is facing further setbacks because of permit delays and problems with traffic flow and parking.
The final completion date is now rescheduled for September of 2002, a few months past the last scheduled completion time of July 2002.
The time frames for the traffic analysis and the issuing of a permit from the California Coastal Commission for Phase 3 of construction have both proved longer than expected.
“We’ve run into problems along the way,” explained Hayden Sohm, area superintendent of the California Department of Parks and Recreation. “The nature of this work [a major historical restoration] is such that we continue to find obstacles that delay the project.”
One of the most notable problems the restoration project has come across is the unresolved issue of pier parking.
Present parking options are the same options that have been discussed in the past by pier renovators. The parking lot that is situated directly next to the pier will most likely be used, yet it fails to provide more than approximately 100 spaces. The vacant lot across from the pier, next to the Malibu Inn, and presently for sale, according to Sohm, is also a possibility that is being looked in to.
The Malibu Lagoon State Beach parking lot, street parking, and stacking cars in the pier parking lot are all being considered as options for additional parking.
There is also the potential of a National Park service shuttle, which would make stops at Malibu Creek, Westward Beach, Point Dume, and the pier, though the idea is still a work in progress. If the idea is followed through, this shuttle could be implemented as early as next summer.
To address the parking problem as well as traffic flow, Kaku Associates, hired to conduct the traffic analysis, will gather information regarding the summer traffic flow along the part of Pacific Coast Highway the pier borders. The pier’s exit and entrance from Pacific Coast Highway is also of concern.
The final traffic analysis report is due, in draft, in the first part of August, said Sohm, and, in addition to the findings, the report from Kaku Associates will “hopefully make some recommendations” about options for pier visitor parking. Final parking recommendations should be settled by September, he said.
Phase 2 of construction is presently underway, and includes work on the structural network of the pier beneath the location where the former landmark restaurant Alice’s used to sit.
Phase 3, which was originally scheduled to commence in September, is scheduled to start by the first of next year.
Phase 3, according to John Riley, the State Parks Project engineer this phase, will entail restoration and renovation to the structures on top of the pier as well as work on the main gate and entrance.
Construction drawings for Phase 3 will be done by the recently hired Devereaux Company, and will hopefully be completed by the end of September.
Yet, for Phase 3, another Coastal Commission development permit is required. The process in order to get such a permit is a lengthy one, said Sohm.
An initial consultation regarding the pier took place four weeks ago, though a hearing date with the Coastal Commission is not expected until October, according to Riley.
Sohm said the prolonged process of obtaining a coastal permit is far from abnormal due to the large workload that the Coastal Commission is constantly faced with.
Recently, a sewer treatment plant was installed at the pier. Global Environmental Machinery Inc., a company from Ft. Meyers, Fla., constructed the plant. The plant, which will ultimately be used by the restaurant and the one public restroom soon to be installed onto the pier, collects sewage into a tank. The sewage is then aerated, filtered, and released into a leech field, which is located under the pier. The plant is designed to provide tertiary treatment of sewage at a rate of 7,500 gallons per day. State Parks plans to conduct tests of the plant during the summer.