The Malibu Chamber of Commerce is holding a town hall meeting Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Drescher Campus at Pepperdine “to educate the public and motivate for political action regarding fire flow issues in Malibu,” according to the Chamber’s website.
At issue is a policy change made by the Los Angeles County Fire Department last year that developers say has imposed a “de facto building moratorium.” Due to Malibu’s aging water system, many new houses are not able to meet the Fire Department’s requirements for water flow. For decades the Fire Department allowed people building new homes to build onsite water tanks to fight fires as a mitigation measure for land with insufficient water flow. The Fire Department abruptly ceased this practice last year, instead requiring property owners to pay large sums to fund overall improvements to the water system in exchange for approval to build.
For more details about the meeting, contact the Chamber of Commerce at 310-456-9025.