In the meantime, the regional water board has agreed to talk with the city regarding wastewater disposal permitting.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
The growing tension between the Regional Water Quality Control Board and Malibu simmered somewhat last Thursday when the board voted to renegotiate a 2004 deal with the city regarding wastewater disposal permitting. The board had considered rescinding the agreement entirely, as was originally proposed by Regional Water staff. However, the board did ask its staff to begin an investigation into a possible ban on septic systems in the Civic Center area, which would force the installation of a sewer system in Malibu.
A busload of approximately two-dozen city officials and residents traveled to the downtown Los Angeles meeting. Another handful of locals drove separately, and representatives from several environmental organizations regularly in disagreement with the city’s policies were also in attendance. With all the familiar faces at the session, it had the feel of a Malibu City Council meeting rather than a state agency hearing.
The hearing had been called after months of disagreement between the Regional Water and city staffs over which entity had the right to issue the wastewater disposal permit for the under-construction Malibu Lumber mall on the city-owned Legacy Park, located at Pacific Coast Highway and Cross Creek Road. A 2004 Memorandum of Understanding between the city and Regional Water allows Malibu to issue permits for smaller projects. In response to the dispute, Regional Water staff had proposed earlier this fall to rescind the entire agreement. But shortly before the hearing, it changed its recommendation to a renegotiation, which the board accepted. The discussions are expected to take a year.
The Associated Press released an article shortly after the hearing, which was published worldwide, that the board had also voted for a septic system ban throughout the city. But the board members actually requested the staff take the next year to look into a Civic Center area ban, with the theory being that the septic systems are the main cause of the Malibu watershed pollution. Several board members also encouraged the city to speed the process toward the construction of a wastewater treatment collection plant (which some say would be a sewer) in the Civic Center area. The city already has a few ideas of where to build one, including on the property of the future La Paz shopping and office center, but there is no official proposal.
During the hearing, several former and current city officials told the board about what they said were Malibu’s strong efforts toward improving water quality, including the construction of the Civic Center storm water treatment plant, the ongoing Legacy Park project and the restoration of Solstice and Las Flores creeks.
“There is no political body for any city in Southern California that’s more committed to water quality treatment issues than the Malibu City Council,” said former Councilmember and current Planning Commissioner Jeff Jennings. “We’ve spent an enormous percentage of our discretionary budget on this issue … And we’re very proud of what we’ve managed to achieve.”
Jennings went on to allege that Malibu was being accused of pollution for which it might not even be responsible.
“The Malibu Creek watershed is a huge watershed that extends over 100-some odd miles,” Jennings said. “We have in the city of Malibu one percent of the banks of the Malibu Creek. There seems to be a sense that ‘gee if there are problems in the Malibu Lagoon, there must be problems in Malibu’ when that’s not necessarily the case.”
Representatives from environmental groups did not speak as highly about Malibu’s water quality efforts as the city proponents did. Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, said the city has recently done “some very progressive things,” but that it was not good enough.
“We’re not here to talk about whether Malibu is environmental or not,” Gold said. “Let’s not forget why we’re here. We’re here because Surfrider Beach has over a hundred violations of the beach bacteria [laws] and we also have a major water quality problem at Malibu Lagoon.”
Gold said he wants Malibu to go into a bonding agreement stating the city will build a wastewater treatment facility.
The same players are likely to return to the next Regional Water hearing on Dec. 11 in Simi Valley when the board will vote on the wastewater discharge permit for the Lumber Yard mall. The city is no longer demanding it be the one to issue the permit, City Manager Jim Thorsen said in an interview this week, and it supports the Regional Water staff’s recommendation for approval.