The Fire Department no longer mitigates low water pressure for new construction; therefore, those who purchase land in areas where pressure is low have to pay for the infrastructure to deliver water to their homes.
By Oscar Antonino / Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu Encinal Canyon residents John and Lucy Whiffen often stand together on their property watching the sun set over the ocean. This is the only enjoyment they have derived from the lot they purchased almost three years ago, due to complications with the permitting process for the construction of their new home.
After having received all the necessary permits, they were waiting for what they thought would be a “rubber stamp” from the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) to begin construction on their dream house. Then the unthinkable happened. They received a letter from the Fire Department denying their appeal to allow mitigation for low water pressure on the property.
“We’re dead in the water,” John Whiffen told The Malibu Times.
The Whiffens’ property, located about a mile from Pacific Coast Highway on Encinal Canyon, has lower water pressure than LACFD mandatory minimum requirements. Like much of Malibu, this is because antiquated systems have been “grandfathered.” All new construction, however, must adhere to current standards, and the costs are the responsibility of the individual, according to the LACFD.
In order to upgrade the water delivery system to meet current standards, the cost to the Whiffens has been estimated at more than $1 million. Although Waterworks District 29 provides water to the area, the utility can offer only suggestions as to how the water pressure can be brought up to acceptable standards. Ultimately, it is the LACFD that determines and enforces the minimum requirements for water pressure levels.
Local contractor Richard Sherman provided the estimates to the Whiffens for the construction of the additional water tank and pipelines that are required to satisfy the LACFD building codes. He said he does not believe the department would accept the compromises offered by Waterworks.
“There is no more mitigation,” Sherman said.
County Fire Marshall James Dull confirmed that the mitigation that was once allowed in extenuating circumstances is no longer acceptable.
“We are now complying with the codes more accurately,” Dull said.
Dull said the LACFD only mitigates now if there are circumstances that physically prevent restrictions from being met, such as engineering or logistical limitations.
“The fire code cannot be lessened because of individual needs,” he said. “We cannot circumvent the fire code based on cost.”
The reason for this, Dull said, is that the LACFD ran a cost-analysis that concluded that allowing mitigation was undermining the integrity of the water main system as a whole.
“It resulted in the fire main system not being upgraded as required by code,” he said.
Adam Ariki, assistant deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, which oversees the county-owned Waterworks District 29, confirmed this assessment.
“The Fire Department understands that if [it] continues to allow people to fragment the system, and allow people to build private tanks, you will never have a system for everyone that will be adequate and reliable to fight fires,” Ariki said.
Although Sherman estimates that construction on up to 50 homes in the Santa Monica Mountains alone is being delayed for the same reason, he does agree that enforcement of the minimum requirement policy will result in safer communities.
“You can’t deny that without adequate water pressure you lose more houses in a fire,” Sherman said. “If La Costa had adequate water mains in ’93 it would have saved hundreds of homes.”
Part of the Whiffens’ frustration with the current fire code policy lays in the fact that the entire community would stand to gain from the upgrades they are being asked to fund entirely with their own money. They reason, if the entire area is currently at risk because of low water pressure levels, then the community and/or county should share in the costs of the upgrade.
Ariki said the Department of Public Works does try to help mediate in circumstances in which multiple customers stand to benefit from upgrades, but programs cannot be initiated without the money already having been collected from existing customers.
“General fund money can’t be used to upgrade the system,” he said. “It has to come from ratepayers.”
The Whiffens have pleaded with officials from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to seek a compromise they can afford. But thus far they feel they have been largely ignored.
“They keep telling us to wait,” Whiffen said. “But they haven’t made it clear what we’re even supposed to be waiting for.”
While they wait, they continue to pay taxes on a barren parcel of land they cannot afford to improve. Feeling the days and years slipping by, they no longer feel confident that a compromise will be reached.
Instead, they have become resigned to the fact that they may never get to build their dream home.
“At least we have a great view,” Whiffen said.