Both sides say a recent lawsuit against the regional and state water boards by a local attorney will not affect negotiations.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
City Manager Jim Thorsen said this week that negotiations with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board regarding the Civic Center septic ban are nearing completion, and that a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by a local resident challenging the ban would have no impact “whatsoever” on the negotiations.
In a telephone interview with The Malibu Times Monday, Thorsen said he expected to bring a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the regional water board before the Malibu City Council the end of this month, outlining plans to build a centralized wastewater treatment facility in the Civic Center area and discontinue the use of septic systems.
Thorsen has been negotiating with Sam Unger, executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), since January. The two have been trying to reach agreement on a plan to build a wastewater treatment facility in the Civic Center area. In November 2009 the RWQCB instituted a prohibition on septic systems in the Civic Center and central area of Malibu. The ban was approved and ratified in September 2010 by the State Water Resources Control Board.
In March, Thorsen and Unger announced a tentative outline on an agreement that would prohibit the use of septic systems for commercial properties in the area by 2015, with residential properties to follow by 2019. Under the agreement, a wastewater treatment facility costing anywhere from $32 million to $52 million would replace the use of existing septic systems, with the cost of construction to be shared by both commercial and residential property owners.
Two weeks ago, local attorney Joan Lavine, who lives on Malibu Road within the septic ban area, filed a lawsuit against the local and state water boards and the California Environmental Protection Agency to have the ban overturned. Lavine argues that the ban has destroyed the value of her property, and that the state agencies did not possess the authority to enact the ban. Lavine is also suing for monetary damages.
Lavine told The Malibu Times that far from being a frivolous lawsuit, she believes her case is strong and that she will win and have the ban overturned.
“I have thoroughly researched this, and I am confident [the regional and state water boards] are dead wrong,” Lavine said. “I only file lawsuits I think I can win … and I expect to win it.”
Lavine added she had not heard from the legal representatives of the defendants, but suspected court proceedings could take anywhere from six months to a year, and possibly longer.
When contacted by The Malibu Times, Unger would not comment on the lawsuit, saying only that “it’s being handled by our legal department and the attorney general.” Unger said his negotiations with Thorsen regarding the MOU were “proceeding fine” and did not think the lawsuit would change the dynamic.
“The lawsuit will have no effect on the negotiations on the prohibition,” Unger said. “So that part’s clear.”
Thorsen said, depending on what the court decides, the lawsuit could possibly affect the septic ban. But he said that regardless, he and Unger were working out the final details on a comprehensive plan regarding the MOU, which he said would be unaffected by the lawsuit.
“As far as the city and the regional board, we’re still working together to try to come up with a solution for everybody,” Thorsen said.
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Malibu Stage Co. property, 29243 Pacific Coast Highway, 6.5 acres
Dewind site, adjacent to Vital Zuman Farms, 9.8 acres
Vital Zuman property, 29127 Pacific Coast Highway, 19 acres
Christmas Tree Lot, on PCH and Heathercliff Road, 19 acres
Lunita Road near PCH, 17-acre site, near Trancas
10-acre parcel near Trancas and Malibu West neighborhood
Two properties on Portshead Road of about 2 acres, near Point Dume