Just four days before a hearing during which the regional water board will decide whether to ban septic systems in Malibu, the city offers an alternative, smaller wastewater treatment facility plan.
By Olivia Damavandi / Assistant Editor
The City of Malibu on Tuesday announced an alternative plan to the ban of septic systems in the broader Civic Center area proposed by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. The regional board during a hearing this Thursday in Los Angeles will vote whether to implement the ban.
The board’s staff recommends a plan to prohibit the septic systems in most of the eastern portion of Malibu, due to its assessment that they are the major cause of the pollution of Malibu’s watershed. The plan includes an end to future permitting of septic systems in the commercial areas of the Civic Center and the stretch of Pacific Coast Highway from Serra Road to Sweetwater Canyon, as well as the residential areas of Malibu Colony, Malibu Road, Serra Retreat, Sweetwater Mesa and the Malibu Knolls. Current septic systems in those areas would have to be phased out within five years, and the regional board could issue fines of up to $10,000 per day or $100 per gallon of wastewater discharged to those who do not comply.
Under the regional board’s plan, the city this week estimated that 425 residential parcels would have to pay between $400 and $500 per month, and 45 business parcels would have to pay between $6,800 and $17,000 per month to help finance an estimated $52 million centralized wastewater treatment facility capable of treating 600,000 gallons per day. However, the city on Tuesday in a written statement said it had identified “technical feasibility issues” with the board’s prohibition plan. One such issue is that the available percolation area may not be sufficient to disperse the large quantity of treated wastewater.
Thus, the city has proposed an alternate plan in which 110 residential parcels would be charged $400 to $500 per month, and 25 business parcels would be charged $6,800 to $17,000 per month to help finance a smaller $30.8 million centralized wastewater treatment facility that would handle up to 240,000 gallons per day and could be constructed in phases.
The first phase would involve installing a wastewater treatment system (capable of treating 190,000 gallons per day) for the central core of the Civic Center area where the commercial properties and the highest potential users of a new wastewater treatment system are located. These properties also are in close proximity to Malibu Creek.
The second phase would expand the wastewater treatment system (adding 50,000 gallons per day) to include homes in Serra Retreat, where the city states residential properties have a potential to impact water quality in Malibu Creek. City Manager Jim Thorsen on Tuesday said the first two phases of the city’s alternate plan are based upon boundary limits that include commercial and residential properties that contribute to Malibu Creek groundwater.
In addition, Malibu Colony homes and two commercial zones along the east side of Malibu Creek and adjacent to Pacific Coast Highway would be required by city ordinance to install disinfection treatments to their existing septic systems.
The location of the treatment facility has not yet been determined, but Thorsen on Tuesday said two undeveloped properties are under consideration: the Wave parcel, located behind the Malibu Courthouse and Malibu Library, and the La Paz property, located on Civic Center Way just south of the Malibu Library.
The city’s estimated $52 million price for a wastewater treatment facility does not include the purchase of land, which could further increase the cost. Thorsen said land in the Civic Center area can generate $2 million per acre and that negotiations are underway with Pepperdine University, which co-owns the Wave property with other private owners.
Acquisition of the La Paz property would not add to the $52 million price tag, as its owners have agreed to donate two acres of it to the city as part of a pending development plan. Yet, development could be delayed due to a lawsuit filed in December by Santa Monica Baykeeper, challenging the city’s approval of the property’s environmental impact report. Further delay may also be caused by the California Coastal Commission’s decision in February to extend its review time for the La Paz property up to one year.
Initial plans to build a wastewater treatment facility at Legacy Park were scuttled after the city determined there was not enough land to do so.
Under the city’s proposed implementation schedule, the first phase of the alternate plan would be completed and operating by April 2015 and the second phase would be operating by 2018. All disinfection systems would have to be installed and operating by 2018.
“I think the city is going overboard to submit a sensible plan that will achieve the goals that we all want, and that’s clean water,” Mayor Andy Stern said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
If the regional board votes to implement the ban, the State Water Resources Control Board must still approve it before it can be enacted.
Thorsen three weeks ago said the city could sue the state board, but that no statements would be made until a final decision is reached.