Malibu’s City Hall is warning … big delays at the Planning Department.

Thousands of trucks of mud and debris from the Santa Barbara disaster are heading this direction.

California’s sea lion population makes a remarkable recovery.

This is Malibu’s only local daily news … the Wednesday edition … from Radio Malibu  ….

99 point 1 K B U U.

Good morning Seastar Way … I’m Hans Laetz reporting.

Longer Delays At City Hall To Build

The City of Malibu planning department is warning …. delays are going to happen …. because of staff shortages.

A senior planner has gone to work for a law firm … another in a string of departures from Malibu City Hall.

Planning director Bonnie Blue told the planning commissioners last night that people building homes or businesses should expect delays.

Initial applications will now take 60 days to process … instead of 30. 

The public counter will now close at noon every day… so the remaining staff can process applications at their desks.

The planning staff is making several other changes to the process …. the cumbersome and lengthy process to get construction approved.

That prompted confusion from planning commissioners last night …. such as longtime commissioner and former mayor  Jeff Jennings.

NEWSCART 77435 JENNINGS PLAN :24 QQQQ: REINVENTING THE WHEEL (2X).

“I don’t under why we seem to be trying to reinvent the wheel, when this is all done by every (planning) department in the state, up and down the state.

“It would seem to me to be pretty much a question of going to the planners manual and saying `how do we do this?’, and then doing it that way.

“I just don’t understand why it has to be a process of reinventing the wheel.”   ((( END QUOTE   )))

Planning director Bonnie Blue responded that … in essence … that 27 years after Malibu was founded … its planning process was still a work in progress.

NEWSCART 77435 BLUE PLANDEPT  :09 QQQQQ FIX IT AGAIN.

“We’re trying to implement some new processes for to move the path for applications, and if something doesn’t work, we will fix it again.”   (((   END QUOTE   )))

The planning director said her staff os now asking the city manager what the priority should be on big citywide issues that are also inching their way through

Things like a dark skies ordinance …. neighborhood character and mansionization ….  vacation rentals . cellphone tower regulations … 

She wants to make sure those are processed in the order that the city council wants.

Montecito Debris To Be Trucked To Local Landfill

Debris from the massive Montecito mud flow disaster will be trucked to a landfiill near Malibu.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors yesterday approved an emergency request to use the Calabasas landfill as a final repository for up to 1,000 tons a day of debris from the catastrophic mudslides that followed the Thomas Fire.

The county-owned Calabasas Landfill is typically restricted to take waste from an area that includes the western Los Angeles County … and eastern Ventura counties.

Local county supervisor Sheila Kuehl recommended approving trucking in the debris from Santa Barbara County … 60 miles to the west … under an ordinance that allows this “when necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety.”

An uproar has developed up the coast … where emergency workers have been putting truckload after truckload of mud on beaches at Carpinteria and at Goleta.

That mud has been inspected and consists of wet or dry dirt or mud … county officials insist it does not contain debris from buildings … rocks …. or vegetation.

An estimated 2 million cubic yards of fire and mudslide debris needs to be removed from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Now .. thousands of trucks will be hauling the wreckage to the Calabasas Landfill.

The state parks department has been planning to send surplus rocks from Malibu Creek … dredged from the Rindge Dam removal … to the same landfill.

Meanwhile …. a small rain storm moving in Friday and Saturday is not expected to cause new mudflows.

But it will moisten the area … as workers continue to toil 24-7 to reopen roads.

The 1-0-1 Freeway will still be closed through at least Monday.

Some Workers Can get Thru Montecito Roadblocks

Emergency workers … teachers and others who live on one side of the mud flow near Santa Barbara … and work on the other … are now being taken through the closed area on a makeshift fleet of buses.

17 busses each morning are being escorted by the C-H-P through the closure area … where the 101 Freeway and all the surface streets are closed from the mountains to the ocean.

Ocean ferries and extra train cars are also available to get from Los Angeles or Ventura County to Santa Barbara.

The death toll stands at 20 … with three people still missing.

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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … 99 point 1 K B U U.  ((( time  ))))

La Monte Appointed To (Another) Key Committee

Malibu City Council Member Lou La Monte has been appointed to serve as Vice Chair of a National League of Cities federal advocacy committee.

La Monte is using statewide and nationwide groups like that to gain support for law changes … limiting the number of rehab centers in any particular neighborhood.

La Monte holds numerous positions with National League of Cities, League of California Cities and the California Contract Cities Association.

He says he is focussing legislation that will offer ways to improve the lives of the patients of drug and alcohol rehab facilities and address the concerns of the neighborhoods where they are located.

The focus of Councilmember La Monte’s work with the National League of Cities is on federal regulation of sober living homes. 

On the state level, he has worked closely with local legislators to develop a statewide bill to address the issue of over-concentration of rehab facilities in residential areas.

Good News About The COean 

Finally … this morning … good news about the Pacific Ocean.

The West Coast’s population of California sea lions has tripled in the past 40 years to more than 250,000 … according to the San Jose Mercury newspaper.

It was down to below 90  in 1975 to 257,606 in 2014, according to the new NOAA study.

The sea lion rebound is a good sign that the Pacific Ocean is fairly healthy . according to biologists interviewed by the Mercury…

The population of sea lions had dropped to very low levels int he 1970e.

Sea lions were once shot in large numbers.

Bounties of $10 per dead sea lion were paid by Oregon … to get rid of competition with commercial fishermen.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act was signed into law by Richard Nixon back in 1972 … when conservation was important for Republicans.

Until 1972 …. fishermen regularly shot sea lions off the California coast.

The 19-72 law changed that.

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The National Weather Service is warning that surf of 7 to 10 feet will affect west facing beaches through tonight.

Attention Point Dume … but large waves could wrap around and his some south-facing beaches in Malibu.

Sets up to 12 feet at times are possible.

Surf will be diminishing tonight … but even larger surf is expected tomorrow night into Friday.

Breakers of 8 to 12 feet are expected then … with sets up to 15 feet possible in some exposed places.

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Traffic …

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Weather for the Malibu ….

Mostly sunny, with a high near 70  on the beach … ((((  80     )))) in the mountains above Malibu.

Winds will be strong.

Downcoast winds will be   (((  20   )))) miles per hour this afternoon.

Sunset tonight is at   ((((     5:08   )))).

After that … expect late night and early morning coastal clouds and fog   )))) tonight … a low of  ((((  57   )))) on the beach … down to  ((((  54 )))) in the mountains.

Tomorrow should be   ((((   cooler  )))).

Rain will now arrive on Friday.

Right now … at Trancas it’s ((((    57    )))) degrees.

In upper Malibu Canyon … ((((    63     )))) .

And at Civic Center Los Angeles … ((((    53   )))).

In the ocean … it’s ((((    56   )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.

The lifeguards say the waves today are   ((((  5-8  )))) feet high ….

((((    ))))

Those are ((((  fair )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.

(((((  High tide … just under 6 feet … is at  8:45 AM.

Low tide is at 3:55 this afternoon.

A secondary … small high tide will be at 10:23 PM  3.82H   ))))

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The KBU Newswire is posted midmornings … at RadioMalibu.net and at the MalibuTimes.com .

Remember…  breaking news  goes first to the radio …  at 99 point 1 in western Malibu….

Our web player is simple …. you can hear Radio Malibu in your phone or stream it to your car.

Navigate to k-b-u dot f-m. … and we’re streaming in your ear anywhere in the world.

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Malibu’s Only Local Daily News – On the radio: FM 99 point 1 in all of Malibu – Streaming at www.radiomalibu.net anywhere else