Rome was once a small city about the size of Malibu, stuck between steep hillsides and a deep, wide, river. The Romans knew that they had to make the best use of the small amount of land they had. Unfortunately, the biggest lot in town became soggy and marshy after every rain and the business-like Romans had to postpone, or forego, market days. The Romans built their first major public works project, a sewer called the Cloaca Maxima, to drain the area and carry the discharge out into the river. The area above the drain became a valuable piece of real estate that would be called the Roman Forum, and the Cloaca Maxima still functions today exactly as it was originally designed.
Water engineering has saved and enhanced more lives than all the medical arts, and it has improved more land than any other craft. So, for Malibu, there should be a sustainable water policy put in place, not only for acquisition, but for disposal of precious water. However, water is rarely where you need it. The notion to use the Chili Cook-off site as a water impound is not far-fetched and not impossible to reconcile with the site’s many other uses.
Heavy rainfalls are going to inundate the field. By grading and sealing a basin on the site to accommodate storm waters and by sinking a pump house to begin moving the waters out to gray water lines and holding tanks, the Chili Cook-off site would remain dry most of the year.
Separate the commercial sites from the park site. Let the seller price the commercial sites at whatever he can get for them on the open market and leave the raw flood-meadow as his contribution to “Heritage Park.” He seemed to be willing to commit $10 million, the difference between his rather airy appraisal for the whole piece and his ‘discounted’ offer to the city. So let that $10 million be his tax-deductible contribution. Plus, he can be given $8,000,000 cash from the city. The rest of the $25,000,000, he should be able to squeeze from the commercial sites. For that he could even get his name on one of the benches or something.
V. Gerald Scordan