By Sarah Pye and Tony Carnelli
staff writers
Since Malibu’s popular Surfrider Beach received straight F’s for cleanliness on its “beach report card” last year, local lawmakers have pushed to clean up Malibu Lagoon. With Pepperdine’s recent announcement that it might be willing to donate 2 acres to the city for a proposed water treatment plant, realization of the cleanup goal may now be within reach.
The university and its partners in the Malibu Residential Housing Group currently own 9 acres located behind old City Hall on Civic Center Way, known as the Wave property. For the past several months, the Wave property has been one of three under consideration by Malibu and Questa Engineering as a possible site for the new wastewater treatment facility, which the city has been planning for more than a year.
“We offered to donate the 2 acres,” said Dennis Torres, Pepperdine’s real estate director. Torres explained that, in exchange for the land, the university would be allowed to build the same size building on the remaining 7 acres as it would have been allowed to build on the 9 acres. In addition, any university building plans for the site would be given priority in processing.
“We’re not going to ask for one square foot more than we’re planning now, and we’re not asking for any exemptions or any exceptions,” Torres said.
Torres also said there are currently no specific plans for the university to build on the Wave property, though office or retail space would probably be put there if it were developed.
The other properties that have been under consideration for the new treatment plant are the Malibu Chili Cook-Off site, a 20-acre property between Webb Way and Cross Creek Road, owned by Malibu Bay Co. and a property owned by the Yamaguchi Family Trust, located near City Hall.
In March, after two public hearings on the matter, Questa Engineering reported that the Wave property would be the best site for the new water treatment facility. During the first week in April, Pepperdine expressed it would consider donating the 2 acres to the city in exchange for the building variance. The property is currently zoned for 15 percent development, according to the city’s General Plan.
Malibu mayor pro tem Andy Stern said he agrees with Questa that the Wave property would be the best place to put the new plant.
“We would still need the Chili Cook-Off site, though, because there isn’t enough room to disperse the water at the Wave site,” Stern said. Malibu Bay Co. has offered to sell the city that property if they can come up with $25 million by the end of the year.
Stern said construction of the new facility will be financed with money from state bonds, which the city will negotiate after obtaining land for the plant. The money will come from the state, Stern said, because pollution is considered “a state problem.”
On any of the three proposed Civic Center-area properties, a new plant would serve to handle wastewater produced by the existing businesses in that area, all of which are adjacent to Malibu Lagoon. The lagoon has long been plagued by pollution, a problem that increased this winter due to unusually heavy rains that carried polluted runoff into Malibu Creek and the lagoon.
A sewer line break caused by a landslide at Malibu Canyon’s Tapia Treatment Facility Jan. 12 added to the problem, allowing as much as one million gallons of raw sewage to flow into Malibu Creek before an above-ground bypass could be installed. An additional 3,000 gallons were released into Malibu Creek Jan. 20 when the bypass was temporarily overwhelmed.
Stern pointed out the high volume of runoff that flows into Malibu Creek and the lagoon any given winter – a drainage area of about 160 miles.
“If you spill a glass of water in Westlake, theoretically it comes out here,” Stern said.
Pollution from the creek and lagoon affects Surfrider Beach when the sand separating it from the lagoon is breached, as it often is in times of heavy precipitation, such as this winter. Heal the Bay posts a “beach report card” on its Web site to alert the public about the safety of Los Angeles-area beaches in both wet and dry weather – since Oct. 25, Surfrider has received straight F’s, wet and dry.
A new treatment plant would help the beach’s pollution problem by replacing some of the septic systems that are now at risk of polluting the lagoon when the water table rises after heavy rains.
Unlike the Tapia facility, the new Malibu treatment plant would work much like Pepperdine’s own system, and effluent from the plant would not discharge into Malibu Creek or anywhere else. All treated water would be dispersed above ground, likely on the Chili Cook-Off site if the city can acquire it, according to Stern. Pepperdine’s treatment plant, which also serves some of the homes adjacent to the campus, is dispersed on the lawn at Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon – in essence, the school’s treated wastewater is used to water the grass.
A new wastewater treatment facility would not serve as a wide-scale replacement for Malibu septic systems, however, and should not be confused with an effort to create a sewer system for the city, a move to which some residents and lawmakers are opposed.
“It is my understanding that the city does not want to open Malibu up to a rash of development and high-rise buildings and hotels,” said Malibu Surfrider Foundation chapter chairman Alan Reed. “Large buildings and hotels need sewer systems. I don’t believe there are septic systems that can support a large hotel or office building.”
Stern said no one should fear the proposed new facility will bring increased development to Malibu.
“It has always been my position that even if we had a central treatment plant, I would never vote for increased density as a result,” Stern said. “This is a function of, you’re either for cleaning up the pollution, or you aren’t. I, for one am for cleaning up the pollution.”
Reed said Surfrider’s main objectives are to clean up the pollution center on septic systems and the Tapia facility.
“Unless Tapia stops discharging into Malibu Creek, spills will always be a likely possibility,” Reed said. “All septic tanks near the lagoon and located within areas that can be leaked when the water table rises should be checked for proper operation. If they are not working, they should be retrofitted or replaced.”
Stern said he hopes to have land for the new treatment facility secured by the end of the year. Once a site has been confirmed, he said construction should take about 18 months.
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