After years of fundraising and planning, the Malibu Green Machine now has a colorful design combination of hardscape and softscape for the Pacific Coast Highway median from Cross Creek Road to Pepperdine.
By Ward Lauren / Special to The Malibu Times
The weed-choked, trash-strewn, dirty and patched-concrete curbed median that divides Pacific Coast Highway as it slices through the center of Malibu at Cross Creek Road will soon no longer be an eyesore, thanks to efforts of the Malibu Green Machine.
Initial design, construction planning and permit-gathering work is already underway for a unique, colorful and attractive landscaped divider that will change it from a civic disgrace to a source of public pride, said Jo Giese, founder and president of the nonprofit, nonpolitical volunteer organization.
The initial phase of the beautification project will start with the section of the highway where the median begins in front of Malibu Creek Plaza shopping center just west of the Cross Creek bridge. It will continue westward past Malibu Country Mart and Malibu Colony Plaza, up the hill past Pepperdine University and extend to John Tyler Drive, a mile and three-quarters in all. Later phases, involving increased funding, are hoped to extend the work farther up Pacific Coast Highway where medians exist, Giese said.
The design of the improved median, adhering to California Department of Transportation specifications, has been completed and donated-along with artist concept renderings and some of the cost of the plans, engineering, and drawings-by architect Burton Sperber, 30-year Malibu resident and CEO of ValleyCrest Companies, the nation’s leading privately held landscape firm. Sperber walked the medians himself one drizzly morning, Giese said, and personally created the design for his hometown.
Never used on a highway median before, the design combines hardscape (paved or tiled area) with softscape (planted area). Plans call for the hardscape to be executed in wavy blue tones to reflect the ocean, combined with “waves” of softscape in drought-tolerant plants. The concept of a wavy, undulating hardscape of mosaics was made internationally famous by the promenade at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Following Caltrans limitations, the softscape will have no trees, nor any plantings that exceed four feet in height or have a trunk more than four inches wide. One of the useful functions of medians is traffic safety, according to the highway department. The landscaping could provide some screening of oncoming headlights and reduce drivers’ nighttime eyestrain.
The Malibu City Council, which voted to provide maintenance funds for the program in its 2006-07 budget, is solidly behind the Green Machine’s median project. Interim Public Works Director Granville “Bow” Bowman said, “I believe this is a very important project for the community and the users of PCH. It’s hard to believe it hasn’t been done before now.”
Councilwoman Sharon Barovsky called it “a mother-and-apple pie project. It’s one of these very rare projects were no one is opposed. Every homeowner is going to benefit, every business will benefit.”
The time frame for the project, which calls for the securing of permits from the many governmental agencies involved, already underway, is expected to take from six to eight months. The second stage, construction, will require another four to six months. This means the project can be complete by the end of next year, Giese said.
Despite the approved maintenance funds, neither the city nor Caltrans has a budget for highway landscaping, so the project will be funded by donations raised by the Green Machine. Based on concept design, the cost for the first phase has been set at just more than $1.78 million, she said. The Soboroff and Green families immediately pledged $100,000.
“Sure we’re excited about a beautiful PCH running through Malibu,” said Steve Soboroff, owner of Malibu Creek Plaza, “but the safety factor, to us, is of even greater importance.”
An award-winning radio journalist, Giese was one of The Malibu Times’ Dolphin Award Citizens of the Year for 2005. She formed the Malibu Green Machine in January 2004, shortly before the death of her husband of 17 years. From her experience as a community activist when she lived in Venice years ago, planting trees on Rose Avenue from Main Street to Lincoln Avenue, she knew a similar activist effort for Malibu would be the perfect involvement to help assuage her grief.
“If it hadn’t come from such a deep and meaningful place, I probably would not have put all the energy into it that’s required,” she said.
Her energies have resulted in an organization that now has an e-mail list of approximately 500 members, all residents of Malibu. Monthly meetings, usually held at her house on Broad Beach, draw about 20 people. The main business is currently how to get the word of the median project out to the public and raise the necessary money.
This month, she said, members with flyers and fact sheets will be in front of Ralphs every Saturday. Soboroff, chair of fundraising for the nonprofit, will meet with officials of Pepperdine University at the end of the month to elicit the university’s cooperation. Meetings are planned with stakeholder businesses all along the highway.
“And next March we’ll have our second annual St. Patrick’s Day party,” Giese said. “It will be at a member’s house in Serra Retreat. Last year it was at my house-140 people. It was a blast!”
The city of Malibu has created a Malibu Green Machine Trust for the collection of all contributions to the median project, for which Giese asks the help of every resident who is interested in improving the beauty and safety of Pacific Coast Highway through the city. Checks for contributions of any size, which will go into the trust, can be mailed to Malibu Green Machine, 23852 Pacific Coast Highway, No. 718, Malibu, CA 90265.
City Attorney Christi Hogin affirmed that all donations to the project are tax-deductible from income as charitable contributions for federal and state personal income tax purposes.