LATE UPDATE: The California Coastal Commission has unanimously voted to endorse the proposed removal of Rindge Dam … in Malibu Canyon.
This came after the U-S Army Corps of Engineers promised to do extensive … additional studies on whether removing the dam would exacerbate flooding on Malibu Creek at the Civic Center and Serra Estates.
Malibu city manager Reva Feldman and lawyers for the homeowners in Sarah Estates appeared before the coastal commissioners … to say that the preliminary approval suck by the Army Corps of Engineers was premature.
They said the study of potential flooding and other adverse effects must be completed before any government approval can be granted.
But coastal staff members and Army Corps of Engineers the Officials said the federal government bureaucracy requires an early sign off on the concept by the coastal commission … pre-construction studies can’t examine the exact impact of the project.
As you may know, the Army Corps of Engineers and California State Parks are proposing a 160 million dollar project to tear down the obsolete dam … and truck out tens of thousands of loads of rocks and sand.
The rocks would go to a landfill … the sand would go to Malibu beaches on a roundabout route through Ventura county to a fleet of barges … which would take the sand back to billionaires beach.
Wildlife advocates note that there are fewer than 50 wild Southern steelhead salmon left in the ocean … and that the 12 miles of creeks that would be opened up as breeding grounds are essential to preserve the species.
The unanimous approval vote came this morning as the coastal commission met in Port Hueneme … and as heard live on KBUU radio.
The unanimous approval vote came this morning as the coastal commission met in Port Hueneme … and as heard live on KBUU radio.
The project now goes back for design and scientific studies … in flooding and other issues.
It will go back to the Coastal in two years or so … for a final state vote.
Funding has not been secured … Congress may have a say in the matter.
Construction is at least 7 years away.