City Files Last-Minute Objections To SMMUSD Malibu High Plans, District Warns City Might Sink Project
Written by 991KBU on January 17, 2022
The 160 million dollar reconstruction project at Malibu high school may be coming off the rails.
The City of Malibu has raised an extensive list of technical questions and objections to the project…
The school district says this was done very late in the process.
School district officials worry that addressing the city’s concerns will delay the project up to a year.
And with construction costs escalating dramatically … a one year delay may mean they will not have enough money to finish phase 2.
School district facilities director Carey Upton says the city has failed to provide the district with a schedule of how the high school project will go through its plan review … planning commission and city council process.
The district is on a tight schedule to complete the high school building by August 2024… but Upton says city is talking about delaying the project for review a year or more.
Upton says the cost escalation might make the project beyond the school district budget.
Upton says the city waited until a public hearing was conducted on the environmental impact report to raise its objections.
Usually… governments work together long before a project goes before environmental review to work out questions.
Says Upton… “We don’t know what changes the city is asking for, because they failed to respond during the period allotted to them by CEQA.”
One major issue raised by the city is that a sewer plant wastewater treatment plant may need to be constructed… instead of continued use of septic tanks. That unexpected expense will add a half million dollars to the project … and adding in a sewage plant somewhere at the high school will be a lengthy design delay.
Early Friday morning… The Santa Monica Malibu school board delayed approving the environmental impact report for the project… because of the City of Malibu’s objections that were filed minutes before the meeting started,
KBUU asked the city for reaction Friday afternoon … they said they would talk to us this week.
Malibu’s planning department has been completely overwhelmed with fire rebuild and other construction projects… and Planning Director Richard Mollica said last week that between 1/3 and 1/2 of the staff has recently departed the city’s employment.
In fairness … many of the objections raised by the city appear to be about mistakes made by the school district in its plans.
City officials said they were surprised late Friday by the district’ position …. they promise a reaction as soon as possible.
