Two creek restoration projects are underway and improvements are being made to Cross Creek Road, while Las Flores Canyon Park is being developed.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Two public works projects-development of Las Flores Canyon Creek and redevelopment of Cross Creek Road-are getting underway after years of being in the planning stage.
Las Flores Canyon Park will be closed for the next four months with a fence placed around it, and the sides of Cross Creek Road that dissect the Malibu Country Mart and Malibu Creek Shopping Plaza have been torn up. The city is also replacing a bridge at Solstice Creek as part of a program to restore steelhead trout in the area.
The more than $2 million Cross Creek Road Improvements project, which is being funded mostly through various grants and $250,000 of city money, involves the elimination of existing discontinuous sidewalks. They will be replaced with a continuous sidewalk made of interlocking pavers. The pavers, according to the city, contain small holes that will drain storm water directly into the soil below, reducing the amount of urban runoff that would be created with traditional asphalt or concrete. City Special Projects Engineer Granville “Bow” Bowman described the pavers as having an oak creek, earth-shade color.
A portion of the existing Cross Creek center turn lane closer to the Pacific Coast Highway end of the road is being eliminated to create a wider street. This will allow for the creation of diagonal parking spaces. The spaces will also be made of interlocking pavers.
“Right now, it’s catch-it-if-you-can parking,” Bowman said. “This will provide better, designated parking spaces. And the curbs will have handicapped access.”
Additionally, five crosswalks made out of brick will be placed throughout the street. Bowman said they would also be a “brownish-earthy” color.
“It’s going to be really stunning,” Bowman said.
Public Works Director Bob Brager shared his colleague’s enthusiasm for the project. “It’s going to set the stage for the whole Civic Center area,” he said.
Additional landscaping is also being installed, and sidewalk benches and American Disability Act-complaint accessible ramps will be put in place. Lights standing slightly above ground level, known as lighting bollards, will also be installed. The project also includes the replacement of the old, worn-out curb and gutter, and the installation of storm drain piping.
Brager said the project should be completed by mid-December.
Meanwhile, over at Las Flores Canyon Park, work is beginning this week on a project to restore the creek and develop the park. The $3.8 million project is being paid for through $2.3 million in grant funding and $1.5 million from the city.
The plan for the creek restoration is to reestablish a floodplain connection along some reaches, remove exotic plant species, replant stream banks and floodplain benches with native vegetation, and provide temporary irrigation for new vegetation. The existing streambed and banks will be reshaped, widening the stream channel in some areas, reducing the steepness of bank slopes and providing additional floodplain and vegetation areas.
The park will be divided into a west bank and east bank, with a bridge eventually connecting the two (although this is not included in the current project). The park will have six-foot-wide pathways made of decomposed granite, picnic tables, benches and boulder-clusters for sitting, two children’s play areas with equipment and a parking area with 22 spaces.
Another creek restoration project is also taking place off Corral Canyon Road. The bridge over Solstice Canyon Creek is being demolished and replaced as part of a program to replenish the steelhead trout population. The $1.6 million project is funded mostly through various state agencies, with the city chipping in $239,000. The existing bridge, which is a concrete box culvert, interferes with fish movement in the creek.
“The replacement bridge is basically the same thing, but this project will allow us to change the bottom of the creek, to make a more natural creek bed that is a little deeper,” Brager said. “Fish can then actually swim just past the bridge.”
The project also includes minor road improvements, riparian revegetation in the area and some landscaping and irrigation work. It is expected to be completed in January.