Long-suffering residents say a new access road connecting the northern and southern portions of the road will improve safety during fires. The road is dedicated to the late David Kagon.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
An enthusiastic crowd of residents, city leaders and firefighters gathered Sunday to celebrate the opening of a private access road connecting the northern and southern portions of Rambla Pacifico Road. The upper portion of the road has been cut off from Pacific Coast Highway since 1984, when a series of landslides closed a part of it.
Following an invocation by Rev. Robert Wolff of Malibu Vineyard Church, Malibu Mayor John Sibert cut the ribbon inaugurating the new access road, then rode up the hill with several city leaders in a vintage Cadillac convertible owned by local resident Jerry Irons. A convoy of cars followed behind to the top of Rambla Pacifico for refreshments.
The new, gated road is 1,800 feet long and ranges between 22 and 30 feet in width. The 76-member Lower Rambla Pacifico Road Owners Association paid $4.5 million to construct the road, association President Scott Dittrich said.
There has not been an access road from Rambla Pacifico to the highway since a portion of the road was closed in 1984. Various legal disputes and other problems had prevented the road from being reconstructed since that time. The difficulty emergency vehicles had in accessing Rambla Pacifico was blamed for causing the further spread of the 1993 fire, which led to two deaths.
Property owners along the road can now breathe easier.
“Every fall, when the Santa Anas start blowing and people start getting worried, it will make all the difference in the world,” Dittrich told The Malibu Times. “The fire department is right here.”
The road was dedicated to David Kagon, a Rambla Pacifico resident and lawyer who helped lead the charge to get the access road completed. Kagon and resident Michael McCarty first investigated the possibility of rebuilding the road by using private funds, and then formed an association of residents in 1996 for that purpose. Kagon died in 2008 at the age of 90.
“It was so sad that David didn’t get to see this day that he had worked so hard for, for so many years,” Dittrich said.
Dittrich paid tribute to Kagon as someone who always worked for the community.
“At one point we could have taken legal action against [a fellow property owner] who was obstructing us, [but] he said we’re not going to do it that way, we’re going to make an agreement” Dittrich said. “Well that delayed the road. But, in the end, it prevented a lot of animosity. He was always trying to find a better solution for everybody.”
Beginning at Pacific Coast Highway immediately west of Las Flores Canyon, Rambla Pacifico originally led to the top of the bluffs adjacent to the La Costa subdivision. However, landslides, which began in 1978, undermined part of the road in 1984 and a half-mile loop of the lower portion has been closed ever since.
To get to their homes from Pacific Coast Highway, residents of upper Rambla Pacifico had to drive more than five miles up Las Flores Canyon Road to Hume Drive, and then backtrack to the southwest uphill and drive down to their now-disconnected portion of the street. The former three- to four-minute drive turned into 15 to 20 minutes. Further complicating matters was a landslide that took away a huge section of Hume Drive after heavy rains in 2005.
The 1993 fire burned for three days and destroyed a total of 268 houses. County fire officials said later that about 130 houses that were burned on the mountainside west of Las Flores Canyon could have been saved had fire trucks been able to access the top of Rambla Pacifico in time to head off the blaze.
In 1995, Malibu city officials sought help from the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency indicated it might fund an extensive $22 million project to stabilize the hillside and reopen Rambla Pacifico. Plans were made but FEMA later shelved the program.
Kagon and McCarty helped form the road owner’s association in 1996. After years of legal wrangling and costly engineering fees, the association received the necessary permits last year.
The new, gated road is 1,800 feet long and ranges between 22 and 30 feet in width. The road is underpinned with $350,000 worth of caissons at the bottom to support the hill, Dittrich said. He added that the road is designed to withstand the worst possible natural disaster scenarios. Additionally, a 5-foot-wide trail easement has been granted across the road to allow for the re-establishment of the Malibu Pacific Trail. People will be able to access the trail through small entries located next to the vehicular gates on foot, bicycle or horse.