Malibu residents who think that the presence of sewers will promote development are incorrect.
The Rincon district, 16 miles of coast along Pacific Coast Highway north of Ventura, has been connected to public sewers for more than 30 years, and only six small residential lots have been created during that time.
Those six lots were created in the early 1980s, on a strip that was within the Seacliff Beach Colony. Other than that, thousands of acres of agriculture and range lands have continued to be zoned for 40 acre to 160 acre or larger minimum parcel sizes.
Ventura County’s citizens recognized the importance of clean water in the 1970s, and created the connection to the City of Ventura’s sewage treatment plant, although the Rincon area is far outside its city limits. Rincon Point, parts of which are in both Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, was not connected in the past due to distance, yet its residents recently agreed to connect to Carpinteria’s sewer system, for the same health and safety reasons.
Zoning and planning laws, including the Coastal Act, are the means through which development is planned and controlled, not the availability of utilities. There are numerous examples of agricultural lands crossed by sewer and other utility lines, which, while proximate to or within city limits, have no legal possibility of change in use. Our friends in Malibu should take a cue from their northern neighbors and recognize that the supposition that sewers cause development is simply not true.
Kioren Moss
Ventura