California State Parks presents plans for campsites, RV parking and restoration of wetlands in Lower Topanga area.
By Carolanne Sudderth/Special to The Malibu Times
A proposal to restore the Topanga wetlands near Pacific Coast Highway may turn the span over Topanga Creek into a bridge over some very troubled waters if plans go through to replace it.
About a month ago, California State Parks acquired 1,600 acres of land at the mouth of Topanga Canyon with plans to restore the wetlands and to have amenities for park visitors. If the wetlands are restored, the bridge over the highway will have to be replaced with a longer span, resulting in traffic backups, which is already a problem with sewer repairs occurring in Santa Monica.
The larger anticipated casualties of the wetlands restoration and park include the small businesses that line Pacific Coast Highway and some 50 residents of the Rodeo Grounds-some of who have made the lower canyon their home for 35 years. Man-made landmarks possibly to fall under the ax include the red roofed Topanga Ranch Motel, Wylie’s Bait and Tackle, the Feed Bin and the Reel Inn.
Topanga residents evinced mistrust and skepticism when they met with representatives of California State Parks about future plans for the site on Saturday.
The State Parks system began eyeing the property in the mid-70s, said David Brown, chair of the Sierra Club’s Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Force. A plan for the area from that time shows 50 tent sites, 25 RV sites, and an interpretive center and 100 parking spaces.
“We had to fight them tooth and nail on Malibu Creek State Park,” warned Brown, a non-Topanga resident. “Personally, I think overnight camping would be an obscenity because it’s so close in. It’s not a good use of a very limited amount of buildable land on this property.”
Resident Scott Dittrick warned, “They’re going to listen to you, and then they’re going to go back to what they want to do, which is put in campsites and RV sites.”
The 50 residents of the Rodeo Grounds have until July 1 to vacate their rented properties. They claim that date is the only information they’ve been given.
The Rodeo Grounds area is invisible from the road. Some call the area a rustic Bohemia, others a West Coast Appalachia. Clapboard houses, circa 1920-1930 range from ramshackle to pristine and are hidden behind tall fences, screens of tall yellow grass or bamboo-like Arundo donax. Getting to them requires heading down a pockmarked dirt road and gingerly maneuvering through a foot-and-a-half of water in an eroded Arizona crossing.
Leases have been month-to-month since 1932, when the Depression put an end to LACCO’s (the parent company of the Los Angeles Athletic Club) plans to build a yacht harbor in the Topanga Lagoon. At that time, the lagoon included 32 acres-16 acres of water and 16 acres of wetland. It was spanned by a 300-foot bridge, beneath which the creek snaked back and forth and chose its channel at will. During the dry season, the sand formed a barrier and the creek backed up, forming a lagoon. When the rains came and the water rose, the creek broke through and ran to the sea.
In 1929, when the Depression killed the harbor plan, LAACO began filling in the land and renting homes, many of which, residents said, housed early-day moviemakers.
Despite the fill, the lagoon ecosystem continued to function until 1938, when Caltrans dealt the killing stroke-shaving the hills at the mouth of the canyon and dumping the detritus in the lagoon. Its area was reduced to 2 acres and raised by some 40 feet. The new bridge they built spanned only 100 feet instead of the former 300 feet and constricted the creek.
At the meeting with State Parks, the more vocal residents were wary, some of them, downright hostile. They wanted to address concerns individually rather being herded into groups to answer pre-fabricated questions about what recreational activities they’d like to see down there.
“I must have misunderstood,” one woman said. “I thought this was more about a public hearing.”
Nevertheless, when the groups were polled, they showed a surprising unity of thought. All were enthusiastic about restoring the lagoon and the floodplain, including replacing the burms and 100-foot bridge with a 300-foot span to allow the creek to snake along its original course.
All thought that recreational activities should be limited to walking through the wetlands, but on elevated boardwalks.
No one wanted camping, particularly RV camping. One group was willing to tolerate an interpretive site, but only on the condition that it is built immediately near the boulevard and well above the wetlands.
All the groups voiced sympathy for the Lower Topanga residents and asked that they be allowed to stay at least until a permanent plan is formulated.