Despite calling it “a leap of faith,” water board members approve the agreement, which faces heavy opposition from residents and some environmental groups, as the best possible option.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board voted 6-0 Thursday last week to approve a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the city, which requires the city to build centralized wastewater treatment facilities in central Malibu. The agreement now heads to the State Water Resources Control Board for approval within 30 days.
The vote moves a two-year dispute over water quality issues and a septic ban in central Malibu closer to a resolution. However, residents affected by the agreement and environmental groups say the MOU is faulty. Residents living in the septic ban area say it puts an unfair burden on those who live furthest from the ban area, and environmentalists say they don’t believe the city will follow through on the agreement.
Going further, Heal the Bay President Mark Gold excoriated the decision the next day in his blog, writing that the water board had been intimidated by Malibu City Attorney’s Hogin’s threat of a lawsuit if the water board inserted stricter conditions in the MOU.
“Hogin should be in line for a big raise for negotiating a deal for Malibu that will save ratepayer’s millions at the probable expense of water quality at beaches visited by millions of visitors each year,” Gold wrote.
Hogin told the water board at the hearing that the city was “laying down their arms without unloading them.”
Gold wrote that from the water board’s perspective, the agreement was more like “a leap of faith Š across the Grand Canyon.”
Regional water board Executive Director Sam Unger and Malibu City Manager Jim Thorsen began negotiating the MOU after the state water board, in September 2010, approved the regional board’s resolution banning the use of septic systems in the Civic Center area.
The MOU negotiated by Unger and Thorsen stretches the original plan into three phases, and moves properties along Malibu Road, the Malibu Knolls and HRL Laboratories into Phase 3 (to be built by 2025). Phase 1 requires commercial properties in the Civic Center area to hook up to a centralized treatment facility by 2015. The facility has been projected to cost up to $52 million and will be funded by an assessment district.
Facilities for Phases 2 (to be completed by 2019) and 3 are also to be paid for by assessment districts. Construction of a sewer for Phase 3 is contingent upon water quality studies to be performed following the construction of the Phase 1 and 2 facilities.
Some Malibu residents spoke out against the agreement. Ozzie Silna, treasurer for the Serra Canyon Property Owners Association, questioned the neighborhood’s inclusion in Phase 2.
“Conceptually, [property owners] agree that if they are causing contamination they should pay for the solution” Silna said. “However, many feel they are too far away to contribute to contamination.”
Gold cited Silna’s comment as proof that the City of Malibu would not follow through with its responsibilities if property owners in Phase 2 and 3 voted against assessment districts. “Right now you have a very strong commitment… that Phase 1 is going to occur,” Gold said. “After that, all bets are off.”
Malibu Mayor Pro Tem Laura Rosenthal disagreed, and said the Malibu City Council was committed to raising public support for the construction of the facilities.
“I can’t say this strongly enough,” Rosenthal said. “We will be fighting for these assessment districts.”
Gold also objected to moving properties along Malibu Road to Phase 3, saying the inclusion of those properties was essential for the improvement of water quality along the beach. Unger acknowledged to the board that those properties had been moved to Phase 3 due to concerns that property owners along Malibu Road would not vote for an assessment district.
Water board member Madelyn Glickfeld also expressed strong displeasure with the city’s decision to commission a study by the United States Geological Survey and Dr. John Izbicki, without including scientific staff from the water board in the study. Several Malibu residents at the hearing cited the study as proof a sewer was unnecessary.
Noting what she called “the almost religious fervor” Malibu residents had showed in the past about not building sewers, RWQCB chair Francine Diamond called the MOU “a huge leap of faith.” However, Diamond said she felt compelled to vote for the agreement.
“[The City of Malibu] comes to us today, and I hope it’s coming to us as the new Malibu, who understand that they have to be part of the solution, they have a responsibility for water in the state of California,” Diamond said.
The Malibu City Council approved the MOU June 27. It is not binding and can be terminated by either side at any time. If that were to occur, the matter would likely be resolved through litigation.
Despite characterizing the MOU as “a leap of faith,” since it is legally non-binding, regional water board members expressed optimism that a new page had been turned in its relations with the city.
“I think we’re witnessing a bellwether moment in the relationship between Malibu and this board,” Regional water board member Steve Blois said.
Malibu City Councilmember Jefferson Wagner hailed the agreement as a step in the right direction. “It was a real eye-opener to see something finally happen,” Wagner said. “All sides are now shoulder to shoulder in an effort to clean our beaches.”