Malibu famous for its 27 miles of scenic beauty along the California coastline is also known for the product of that beauty— heavy tourist traffic and water pollution.
To address those problems the City of Malibu has begun construction of Legacy Park one of the biggest projects in the city’s history.
The 15-acre plot located behind the Malibu Country Mart between Civic Center Way and Pacific Coast Highway is being transformed into a water treatment area to clean up polluted water in the Malibu area as well as a lush park where visitors can stroll and learn about the environment.
Construction began in September and is about 30 percent complete. The park should be open to the public sometime next fall.
The City of Malibu purchased the property five years ago for $25 million from the Malibu Bay Co. and local billionaire Jerry Perenchio. Since 1982 the Kiwanis Club has used this land for their Labor Day weekend Chili Cook-Off. The cook-off will take place in parking lot areas around PCH such as the Malibu Country Mart and Colony Plaza in the future.
Mayor Andy Stern who spearheaded the project along with City Manager Jim Thorsen and a host of other community leaders lauds Legacy Park as part of an effort to improve the water quality at Malibu beaches and clean up storm waste.
“The purpose of the park is passive recreation for residents and the cleaning of storm water Stern said.
The blueprint of Legacy Park proves that it will be spacious, lush and green.
The area of the park closest to the street is called the active edge. As visitors enter Legacy Park, they will encounter the Water Sources Entry Plaza that will house the water treatment facility, an education center and a crosswalk to Linear Park.
The next section of the park, called the interpretive area, structured in a semicircle, has a planting section with trees and native grass and an interpretive educational play feature, with paved granite walkways and trellis structures.
An environmental education center will be in a half-circle surrounded by trees at the front of the park, viewable from the street. This center seems appropriate in view of the park’s environmentally restorative function.
The facilities in Legacy Park will remove 90 percent of the storm water through a water treatment plan, improving ocean water quality and restoring the local habitat. The facilities within the park will eliminate most of the runoff into the Malibu Lagoon, Surfrider Beach and Malibu Creek.
Water flows will be redirected from three major storm drains to Legacy Park’s storm water treatment facility, where it will be cleaned and disinfected. The clean water can then be stored and reused for park irrigation or deposited into Malibu Creek, if a large amount of rainfall has occurred and there is a surplus of water.
Because the treatment facility will not be able to clean 100 percent of the waste, opponents consider the project unsubstantial. Environmental groups such as Heal the Bay, for example, have criticized the park’s inability to completely solve both the wastewater and the storm water issue.
I don’t know why any are opposed Stern said. We have the finest scientists but some say it’s better to do 100 percent than 90 percent.”
Deeming the project ineffective and seeing it as improperly addressing the issues of sewage treatment and water discharge the Santa Monica Baykeeper brought a lawsuit against it.
Stern said the city initially built a water treatment facility on the north side of Civic Center Way in February 2007 to deal with the sewage treatment and pollution issues. The facility however was not large enough to deal with both the storm water and wastewaster concerns. In response to the suit the city plans to deal with the wastewater issue by implementing a wastewater treatment facility which will not be completed until 2013.
Pump stations located at the Malibu Road Cross Creek drain and the Central Treatment Facility allow up to 1400 gallons of runoff per minute to be collected by storm drains and pumps processed and then disinfected by an ozone treatment. This lessens the amount of harmful components such as phosphorus ammonia and nitrogen in the water.
City council members say they are doing their best to address all concerns regarding the regulations of water issues so that construction continues in a timely manner.
Project advocate and longtime city council member Sharon Barovsky told the Malibu Times in March that she strongly supports the completion of the project.
“I voted [to move forward with the construction of Legacy Park] right now Barovsky said, because every day we don’t build this park it’s another day of proven pollution in the water.”
Former city council member Ken Keasley and dozens of civic leaders and citizens also support the project.
The initial plan for the location was a shopping center. Those originally opposed to the creation of a community park assumed that a shopping center might stimulate the Malibu business district though Stern and others remained steadfast in their effort to use the land to benefit the city in a broader sense.
“The point is that generations to come will have a beautiful park rather than a shopping mall Stern said.
It took three years to raise the funds necessary to develop Legacy Park. Contributions from the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, the Annenberg Foundation, the L.A. County Regional Park and Open Space District, Santa Monica College as well as dozens of personal contributions, have made construction possible.
