Rocky rollout for new Malibu Rebuilds website

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Malibu Rebuilds Website Landing Page_Screen image

Debut of important website reveals opportunities for improvement

A new city of Malibu website designed to help inform citizens affected by the devastating Palisades Fire was poorly received by some residents who are seeking accurate information to inform their decision-making during this critical time.

By necessity constructed under exigent circumstances, the website included sentences copied from other websites and placed into paragraphs that rendered them incorrect. The City website, now corrected, described Phase 1 household hazardous waste removal as follows: “Phase 1: Household Hazardous Waste Removal. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started Phase 1 of the debris removal process and is currently performing fire debris assessments and household hazardous waste removal activities in Malibu. The property owner will be responsible for any costs of removal that exceed their insurance settlement amount for debris removal.” The bolded language, which was bolded on the website’s launch, had been lifted from the County’s description of Phase 2 costs if an owner opts out of the Army Corps of Engineers cleanup.  

To be clear, property owners are not responsible for any of the costs of hazardous waste removal from the Palisades Fire conducted by the EPA under Phase 1 on residential property, nor are they responsible for any debris removal costs incurred by the Army Corps of Engineers. Those who choose to have their debris removed privately by a licensed contractor will be responsible for costs that exceed their insurance limits.

Any website user who sought to clarify this language with the EPA would have been surprised, as was this reporter, to click on a direct link from the site to the EPA’s debris removal hotline number, provided on the Malibu Rebuilds website as 888-798-7372. This number connected the caller not to the EPA but to “The VIP Desk at Preferred Hotels and Resorts.”

There remains much confusion as to how parcels that the EPA has placed into “Deferred to Phase 2 Status” can proceed if they elect to opt out of the Army Corps of Engineers cleanup. As of this writing, well over a hundred parcels in Malibu have already received this deferred status. The Malibu Rebuilds website originally read: “Some properties were deferredduring Phase 1 due to unsafe conditions. These will be addressed in Phase 2 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Property owners with deferred parcels must still submit Right of Entry (ROE) forms to allow cleanup to proceed.” This information might suggest that deferred properties cannot proceed with cleanup absent a ROE, when in fact ROEs, which require the signer to waive all legal rights and to indemnify the USACE for any damages resulting from their actions, are voluntary. The property owner of a parcel in deferred status retains the right to opt out and to elect to have cleanup performed by private contractors at the owner’s expense.

After The Malibu Times identified these errors and misinformation to the city on Feb. 14, steps were taken to correct the problematic language and links to the EPA. The city issued this statement to TMT: 

“The Malibu Rebuilds website is a City-led initiative and is an evolving resource. The intent is to organize and compile recovery and rebuilding information in one hub to support our community. Content on the site comes from a variety of sources, including county, state, and federal agencies, and the City will continually update the site as information and circumstances evolve.

To that end, the Rebuilds website links out to lead agency websites, such as the EPA’s, which will have the most updated information. Our goal is to update the Rebuilds website as quickly as possible to reflect changes. Our staff is actively working to gather new information and updates and make changes accordingly.

LA County will be sharing additional information regarding deferred property owners’ options for Phase II. The City understands that the community has further questions regarding the debris removal process and is working actively with our county, state, and federal partners to host a debris removal town hall in Malibu.”

Resident Jo Drummond voiced her disappointment with the website and requested more. “We NEED a local Rebuild czar to work side by side with Yolanda Bundy and a team to make sure our rebuilds all go smoothly with no possible disputes. This would mean visiting all the applicant properties and working directly with the fire victims to make sure everything can continue without any problems.”