Newly formed group brings residents, businesses, and former city leaders together to address issues
The newly formed East Malibu Neighborhood Alliance, a group of local businesses and residents working together to improve their community, held its inaugural meeting at Malibu Bungalows on Sunday, Jan. 18.
“Neighbors reconnected, shared stories from the past year, and discussed current topics with possible solutions,” attendee Pablo Capra said. “We discussed the graffiti on La Costa Beach’s ruined walls and the volume of rising sediment under the Las Flores Canyon bridge caused by the last hard rains.”
Community engagement is central to the Alliance’s mission, and the group will have free monthly gatherings to discuss helping to restore East Malibu. One initiative is to remove the storm debris at Las Flores Creek and other disruptive items, including solicitation flyers and posters. Further, the group aims to help area homeowners rebuild and to help connect residents with local volunteerism opportunities. Volunteers will remove graffiti after a homeowner approves, and they will coordinate sandbag distribution during storms.
Sediment clogs Las Flores Creek — disposal options
The event was hosted by Lynn Bealer, proprietor of Malibungalows, who discussed sediment-caused clogging of the creek, noting that a debris-filled creek is susceptible to further serious flooding. “I received an email from our Caltrans project manager stating they will start removing the vast amounts of sediment upstream, downstream and under the bridge as soon as they get the director’s order,” she said.
Attendee Paul Grisanti, a former mayor and councilmember in Malibu and a past president and board member of Smart Coast California, a nonprofit organization that focuses on smart land use policies in coastal regions, discussed the importance of sediment flowing to the ocean and noted that the deposition process helps create sand for beaches. The life cycle of sand involves ocean waves and currents picking up deposited sediment and moving it parallel to the shore, whereupon the waves break at the shoreline, losing energy and leaving behind sand, which accumulates to form beaches.
“Everybody needs to realize that what we’re doing is not the best for the ocean!” Grisanti lamented. “Historically, people come to Malibu for the beaches, but unfortunately, even as many of us are worried about sea level rise, we’ve done all we can to prevent sediment from flowing to the ocean. We’re preventing any rocks and soil that have washed down from the mountains to reach the ocean where they would fulfill their duty to create new sand.”
Grisanti elaborated: “The debris basins that we have constructed are trapping sediment before going to the ocean and oftentimes, government officials want to take removed sediment to landfills instead of letting it proceed to the ocean.”
In Grisanti’s view, “The ideal thing for Caltrans to do is to take the sediment out to the end of where the concreted drainage area is as the creek approaches the ocean.” He noted that after water goes under the Las Flores Bridge on Pacific Coast Highway next to Duke’s Malibu restaurant, there is a concrete bottom to the flow area. If Caltrans can move the sand closer to the ocean so that waves have a chance of taking it away, that will help with keeping sand on the beaches.”
Las Flores Creek Bridge improvements
Caltrans’ forthcoming work, identified in the Caltrans 2025 project list, will upgrade bridge rails to safety standards and will involve seismic retrofitting. The effort will also focus on stormwater improvements in the area and will upgrade drainage systems for Las Flores Creek. Other projects include culvert replacements and habitat restoration along Pacific Coast Highway.
The Malibu Times will continue to try to reach Caltrans regarding whether the removed sediment will be placed where it can contribute to sand formation, as opposed to being taken to the landfill.
Aloha and Mahalo! Duke’s is opening soon
Bealer and Grisanti noted that the Alliance will also focus on supporting businesses in East Malibu. It is Bealer’s understanding that Duke’s general manager, Jimmy Chavez, is making every effort to open the restaurant. “If Duke’s opens on Valentine’s Day that would be amazing!” Bealer exclaimed, noting the irony that, “Their doing so on that day would be exactly one year from the great mudslide of 2025.”
For information concerning the Alliance’s next meeting, visit eastmalibu.com or email eastmalibualliance@gmail.com.