The leading edge of NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia has been the U.S. Air Force’s F-117 and B-2, otherwise known as the “stealth” fighter and bomber. In a year or so, construction will start in Malibu on a project that its designers, local architects Ed Niles and Mike Barsocchini, refer to as a “stealth” building.

Although architecturally daring and located on a prime, five-acre site on PCH when it is finished in a few years, most people will probably never see it. But for members of the congregation or those lucky enough to happen by, the new Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue certainly will be recognized as one of the most rewarding additions to Malibu’s built environment.

In Niles’ office in the sylvan Point Dume office complex he designed a couple of decades ago, both architects, chosen from six design finalists, enthusiastically display renderings of the multimillion dollar project and talk about its challenges. “The concept is driven by the idea of nature as a means of architecture,” says Niles.

“Both Mike and I grew up in the modernist world with the images of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe. But the temple is really a reflection of the Malibu surroundings. The way it’s designed and the way it fits the site and the weather, you probably couldn’t build this anywhere else but in here. It’s not an urban fortress like many churches, but a temple in a garden,” Niles adds of the glass-and-copper, barrel-vaulted edifice, which, with the removal of some soil, will be sunken into the site’s naturally rolling topography.

“We really wanted to reflect the sensitivity of congregation to the community,” George Greenberg, president of the synagogue, adds of the project, which has been in the works for seven years. “We all live in Malibu for specific reasons, including wanting to be out in nature. So we wanted it to be open to allow the elements of ocean, sky and greenery to be present in open areas but also in the buildings themselves.

“We also have an ESHA (a Coastal Commission-protected Environmentaly Sensitive Habitat Area) at the bottom of property, which we can use but where we can’t put permanent structures,” Greenberg adds. “We view it not as a limitation but a place to enjoy nature or meditate. Niles and Barsocchini were able to develop this notion of integrated architecture brilliantly,” he says.

One example cited by all parties will be the creation of natural berms with the soil removed for construction that will reduce the noise from PCH, using topography rather than concrete to insure a tranquil ambiance.

There is more to the project than the temple, though. Far more. Sheltered under that glass vault will be space for what Greenberg felicitously describes as “life-cycle events”: weddings, bar- and bat mitzvahs. There will also be a community center (Greenberg eschews the architects’ more grandiose term “Hall of Humanities”), a meeting and gathering space that will also include a teen center, a small performance space and a kosher kitchen that will be able to prepare dinners for 300. Nearby, an educational/ administrative center will be built, into which the three temporary structures presently on the site will be integrated. “It will truly be a multi-use, dedicated religious space that can be expanded and reconfigured to accommodate the religious, as well as social, aspects of life-cycle events,” Greenberg adds.

The first phase of the project, planned to commence in about a year and cost about half the estimated final tab of $5 million to $6 million, will include the synagogue and the space for the life-cycle events. It will also include a temple court, which will accommodate up to 1000 worshippers for outdoor High Holy Day services. “The temple has a tradition of putting up a tent for these services,” says Niles, “and we have integrated a structure into the design over which tent material can be placed to recreate the feeling.” The second phase will include the community center and the education/administration complex.

Greenberg adds that the current capital funds campaign is “going very well.” In fact, over the past three years, the congregation has doubled its membership to 225 families, a success story he credits to the “dynamic leadership” of Rabbi Judith Ha’Levy, as well as the temple’s inclusive, “reconstructionist” philosophy.

“What it really amounts to,” Niles adds, modestly but enormously simplifying the challenges, “is finding a beautiful garden and putting a roof over it. And you put in some glass where you need to protect everything from the elements, and that’s it.”

If you heard sirens and helicopters last Wednesday afternoon on Pacific Coast Highway, it was Lost Hills Sheriff Station deputies helping the California Highway Patrol catch a man who evaded police for more than two hours. Besides following the suspect’s car through Malibu, deputies also threw out one of two spike strips in an attempt to flatten his tires.

According to California Highway Patrol Sgt. Tony D’Ambrosio, three jurisdictions of law enforcement were involved in pursuing James Robertson, 36, of Simi Valley. Simi Valley police tried to stop him at 3 p.m. for speeding on the 118 Freeway. Shortly afterwards, he was seen throwing what appeared to be cocaine out of his window, D’Ambrosio said.

The chase was picked up by the CHP at Interstate 5. They pursued him westbound on the 134 freeway to the 101, then to its intersection with the 405, south to Interstate 10, and west to Pacific Coast Highway.

Sheriff deputies were asked to assist when the man reached Rambla Vista, D’Ambrosio said.

According to Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station deputy Shaun Mathers, the first spike strip was thrown on Pacific Coast Highway at 4 p m. near Corral Canyon. The device is a 20-foot plastic strip with nails and is activated by remote control, Mathers said.

A second spike strip, used by the CHP at Las Posas Road in Ventura, blew out the tires, but the man drove 14 more miles before the CHP stopped him at 5 p.m. on the 101 freeway in Camarillo, D’Ambrosio said. Robertson was then turned over to the Simi Valley police, D’Ambrosio said. At minimum, he faces a charge for felony evasion, D’Ambrosio noted.

Environmentalists looking for ways to avoid the massive ocean pollution caused by periodic overflows of major sewage treatment plants were among those taking a crash course in Onsite Wastewater Technology and Equipment Monday at City Hall.

The seminar, which drew 60 regulators, system designers and sanitation officials of districts from Santa Barbara to San Diego, was sponsored by local Biosolutions, Inc. and Orenco Systems of Oregon and was hosted by the city.

It seems those who resisted Los Angeles County’s efforts to force Malibu into its sewer system — primarily because they feared massive development would follow — may have been on the cutting edge after all.

A variety of innovative technologies — intermittent and recirculating sand filters, textile filters, STEP systems — have been tested and used in North Carolina and other states with high groundwater tables and poor soil, problems similar to those that plague Malibu, causing old, traditional septic systems to fail.

Notable and new among the many systems discussed was a textile filter system that requires only 30 square feet, can be placed below or above ground with landscaping and seems ideal for Malibu’s small beachfront and hillside lots where situating leach fields is problematic at best. A pump aerates the system so it can be placed virtually anywhere, even under hardscape such as a parking lot.

Marine biologist Rosi Dagit, a member of Malibu’s Environmental Review Board, said she attended to learn about the environmental benefits of the alternative systems. “I wanted to better understand how we could use them to clean up our creeks.” She said the textile filter was the only one that would fit on the small lots characteristic of Topanga. Despite its modest size, the textile system contains 100 times more surface area than a sand filter. Orenco says it has been tested for five years. Cost of the unit pumps for a single family home is about $5,000, about $10,000 completely installed. “This is less than what it would cost to repair a conventional system,” Braband said. And environmentally, it is the most sound. “You get water that exceeds municipal water treatment quality that can be used for subsurface irrigation.”

One of the reasons county officials have traditionally favored sewage plants over septic systems is the difficulty of regulating thousands of individual systems and small package plants. The discussion among regulators and sanitary district officials at the seminar produced some solutions.

Larry Young, the city’s environmental health specialist, said the City Council will consider a proposal to require homeowners to record a covenant with the city for onsite wastewater systems. “It’s a contract between the city and the homeowner to maintain the system. The covenant runs with the land, so the next buyer is bound by the contract,” he said.

“North Carolina has an onsite wastewater disposal permit. If the system fails and the homeowner doesn’t fix it, the permit can be withdrawn,” Orenco’s Bill Cagle said. “It’s a criminal misdemeanor to operate without a permit, but most district attorneys aren’t interested.”

“Our city will prosecute,” Young said. “A maintenance contract is required. Eventually, it’s going to be for every system.”

“There are failing systems that are getting pumped every week, but the county doesn’t enforce,” one regulator said.

“Part of the permit process will require inspections by certified industry people,” Young said. This would be possible because the city has fewer than 10,000 systems. L.A. County has 100,000 and San Diego has about one million.

Neighborhoods can get together and form a special service district. Placer County’s permit process includes a restrictive covenant, a recorded operating permit that is co-op owned. If the system is not maintained, constructive notice comes up on the title, Cagle said. “It’s a way to help out health departments that are overburdened, that don’t have enough manpower to check these things.”

Susan Nissman, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s deputy, said, “Basically, I came to learn what is happening around the state. It was very informative.”

This was the first in a series of planned technical seminars. A training course designed specifically for contractors is scheduled for Saturday. The city is requiring contractors working in Malibu to get ongoing training, to be certified to install the new systems, Braband said.