A new water system could finally be within reach for Trancas Highlands residents after the Malibu City Council voted unanimously last week to create an assessment district for residents to vote on the proposal, though an appeal has been filed against the vote that could cause another hurdle for proponents of the measure.
Despite the 5-0 vote last Tuesday, May 27, longtime Trancas resident Robert Bass has already appealed the decision, arguing that not enough information on the planned project has been provided, and it would be impossible to vote based on, in his words, the “possible extreme nature of the additional costs.”
The council’s decision did not come easily, with council members and residents raising concerns ranging from the necessity of the water system to its cost and possible impacts on the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Trancas neighborhood has never had running water. Originally, the homes operated on private wells, though since the wells were first dug in the 1960s, the vast majority of them have dried up, leaving homeowners to truck in water every day. The mile-long neighborhood, mostly on Anacapa View Drive, consists of about 75 parcels, all dependent on water wells or trucked-in water. City and THHOA members estimate the project could cost $13.7 million, but opponents argue they could save $8 million through privately funded means.
Last week’s meeting saw almost a dozen residents and their attorneys asking questions of City Council members, engineers and sometimes each other, as tensions ran high.
Several issues surfaced during the three-and-a-half hour meeting, including “general benefits,” price discrepancies and missing engineering details.
Fire protection has been cited by Scott Talal, president of the Trancas Highlands Home Owner Association (THHOA), and others, as a major reason for the need of a water system. However, the THHOA and engineers do not believe that the benefit of the fire protection goes beyond the immediate area to become a general benefit.
Mayor Skylar Peak raised the issue during the meeting, asking city engineers why the cost wouldn’t be spread to other Malibu neighborhoods, such as Broad Beach and Malibu West.
“I want to be 100 percent clear that you’re of the opinion that there’s no benefit to these other areas,” he asked of Pat Reeves, an engineer from the city-contracted firm Penfield & Smith who spoke at the meeting.
“Everybody’s already paid for their appropriate water system and their fire protection, so are you going to charge them again for our project?” responded Reeves, adding, “There have been cases where the fires went the other way, and nobody in Trancas paid for those.”
“The way I look at it is that everybody takes care of their own area,” said Reeves.
Many other complaints raised at the meeting revolved around approving the vote without having full plans fleshed out over the cost of the water system and the thought that residents are potentially overpaying with Penfield & Smith, and could save money elsewhere.
Trancas resident Art Mortell expressed his and others’ concerns about not having a vote before information is complete.
“I’m going to go on record, we all are in favor of water, we all want to vote on going ahead with water,” said Mortell, who later added that it’s “critical” that “geology be done first.”
“We’re asking the THHOA, before we go to a vote, that we could all work together as a community, and do the geology … so we have an idea what we’re voting for,” said Mortell.
This last point has raised controversy, even inspiring an appeal of the decision by Robert Bass, a 15-year resident of the Trancas Highlands who believes that the city report leaves out details that could result in much higher costs to residents.
“The proposed Assessment District Engineer Report is deficient, incomplete and does not have the legally require information contained within it, which the Property Owners must rely upon to make their decisions, on how they decide to vote on the proposed AD,” said Bass in an email.
According to deputy city attorney Shahiedah Coates, officials are currently reviewing Bass’ appeal, in the hopes of being able to address it next week.
“We did receive the appeal and we are looking into it but I don’t have an exact answer at this point as to the next step,” said Coates on Tuesday afternoon, adding, “He asked for a response by the next council meeting and that’s what we’re looking at in terms of the time frame.”