Roadway improvements will be coming to Malibu’s Point Dume neighborhood in the coming months, since City Council unanimously approved “traffic calming improvements” meant to make Point Dume both safer and easier to navigate.
These were the first of an ongoing Point Dume Traffic Management Plan that is underway.
Improvements include the installation of speed humps along Portshead Road from Pacific Coast Highway to Boniface Drive, the installation of radar speed advisory signs, traffic lane edge striping on Grasswood Avenue and Fernhill Drive; the installation of a crosswalk at Heathercliff Road and Dume Drive, the lowering of speed limits on Bluewater Road, Wildlife Road and Cliffside Drive from 30 miles per hour down to 25 miles per hour, and the removal of encroachments from the public right-of-way.
“Staff is currently working on the final Point Dume Traffic Management Plan and will present the final recommendations to council at a future meeting. However, the speed humps, traffic striping, lowering the speed limits, radar speed advisory signs and removing encroachments from the public right-of-way received a general consensus from the community,” reads the staff report for the Monday, March 15, meeting. “Staff is recommending that these traffic calming improvements be implemented prior to the final adoption of the Point Dume Traffic Management Plan.”
Council agreed, adding one amendment to staff’s recommendations after a suggestion by Point Dume resident and community leader Laureen Sills.
“There’s a few places where there are really mature trees,” Sills began. “I’d like to say, just as a person in the community, that I would like to consider the mature trees and not have those be chopped down just to make room for parking.”
Sills was referring to the removal of encroachments from the public right-of-way, which would mean removing some older trees. Council voted 4-0 to approve staff’s recommendations, with a stipulation that “removal of encroachments from the public right of way” be changed to “Requiring removal of landscaping encroachments, notwithstanding mature trees, by private landowners in the public right-of-way.” Council Member Skylar Peak did not attend the meeting.
Residents will be contacted to remove encroachments soon, which council predicted could be a tough sell.
“There’s a lot of stuff built into the right-of-way,” Council Member John Sibert said. “This is going to be difficult, it’s not going to be simple.”
Public Works Director Bob Brager said that, while not simple, the project is possible.
Brager cited the removal of encroachments on Busch Drive as an example of residents complying with similar orders.
“We asked [residents] to remove [encroachments] a certain distance away from the edge line — initially, them volunteering to do that — and then areas that they didn’t, we actually removed,” Brager said, “but let’s say, almost 90 to 95 percent of residents complied on Busch Drive.”