From the Publisher: Lots of things happening around Malibu

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Arnold G. York

The restaurant scene is still in flux. Guido’s closed at the end of last year and there’s still no indication as to its successor. But it’s looking like it will be another restaurant. Charlie’s remains closed and, so far, no sign of new activity. The restaurant next to the new Nobu is still a mystery, but we know that they were just given permission to serve breakfast, so it’s reasonable to speculate it’ll be serving three meals a day, whatever it is. There’s a new place opening on Point Dume, which may be named the Duck Dive— where Savory restaurant was formerly located. And in the Malibu Colony Shopping Plaza a Chinese restaurant called Kaishin is due to open where the old Wine Barrel was located. There are new rumors about the old Granita Restaurant space in the same shopping center possibly being cut up, but those rumors have been around so long they’re hard to believe. The state wants to try and reopen the restaurant on the Malibu Pier, formerly the Beachcomber, before summer, and it looks now like the pier concessionaire may bring in a company to open and run a restaurant which he’ll own.

The city government has also been busy trying to pull off a land swap with Joe Edmiston and the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy. The deal they’re considering is that the city would trade the 532-acre city-owned Charmlee Park, located in the far West end of Malibu, and get back in return 83 acres at Bluffs Park to add to the 10 the city already controls, which could possibly be used for new sports fields and additional parking. Needless to say, immediate opposition sprung up from those who want to keep Charmlee in the city’s hands, and those who feel additional ballfields really aren’t necessary. It’s true that Malibu has had a bit of a rocky history with Joe Edmiston and the Conservancy, but one thing we can be sure about is that Joe isn’t about to try and build a bunch of condominiums in Charmlee. So in answer to the critics, the proponents are saying, “What’s the difference who owns the land, just as long as it all stays pristine and undeveloped?” This week, the Malibu Township Council, just raised from the dead, went to city hall and filed a complaint accusing the council of Brown Act violations in connection with the proposed swap. These are all the opening salvos in what looks to be a protracted war.

The Rindge Dam studies by the Federal Army Corp of Engineers and the State Department of Parks and Recreation are almost finished, and they expect to go public with the report perhaps as early as next month. That’ll be followed by a series of public workshops and hearings. The 100-foot dam, which has been there since the mid-1920s, is no longer functional, according to the state. And the options are either take out the dam or do nothing. The possibility of dam repair is not on the table at this point. The problems are multitudinous. For one thing, they estimate there are 800,000 cubic yards of silt behind the dam, some usable, some not. If you truck it out, with large trucks that carry on average 20 cubic yards each, we can easily calculate how many truckloads it would take to clear it all out. If, on the other hand, they move the silt over the dam to run out to sea, whether by pumping it or making a cut in the dam, there is still the problem of this silt passing through Serra Retreat, then next to the Civic Center, into the Malibu Lagoon and, from there, into the surf line. What the impact will be, how it might affect septic systems, whether it will cause land movement, impacts on species in the creek or impacts on the surf are just a few of the questions they’re going to try and address in the report. Then there’s the whopping question: Is spending $50-$80 million, and perhaps twice that by the time the project is finally built, a wise and sensible use of public funds? The principal purpose seems to be to try and bring back some steelhead trout to the creek.

Waterworks Dist. 29, the county-run water district, is about to release a proposal to finally fix the water problems in Topanga and Malibu. Our old water system is inadequate with old antiquated pipes and a shortage of water storage tanks or reservoirs. But the price of fixing it all is estimated now at a staggering $280 million, roughly $150 million for Malibu and $130 million for Topanga.

One thing is for sure: it’s not going to get any cheaper to live in Malibu.