[These news items were broadcast Friday Feb. 21.  Due to pressing radio station construction work, this could not be transcribed and posted until today, Sunday Feb. 23.]

Hundreds of people packed Malibu City Hall last night … nearly each and every one of them with something vitally important to be considered as the city rewrites its building codes for fire victims.

One woman had to be carried out by sheriff’s deputies.

More than 10 hours worth of public speaker slips were turned in.

Last night .. five different commissioners … all with firsthand knowledge and important points to make … went in different directions. 

City staff found it impossible to keep track of who was suggesting what … or what the commission consensus was.

Assistant city attorney Kellan Martz and acting city manager Joseph Toney struggled to understand. 

70976 MARTZ RECOMMMNED

“My recommendation: one so we get through this tonight but two so that staff, including myself, can be clear on what people are voting for … is that we go one by one, look at the definitions that are proposed in red here, and say yes I like it

“Then you don’t have to say anything else.  But if you don’t .. what issue you find with it … and if you don’t, what issue you find with it, 

“But the back-and-forth is where we are getting caught up.”

I t was an organized traffic jam … there was praise from the planning commissioners … peopekl made important points.

70984 VOXPOP 2

“I can’t imagine that in order to put an RV on the lot we will need a geologic assessment.” 

DON SCHMITZ:  “I want it to be crystal-clear in this document, as it a pertains to the fire: whether you have to redo your septic system in a different place; if you have to grade a driveway in a different location because the fire department requires it; if you have to build a seawall because the departmenst in the city require it; if you have to put water tank on your property because the fire department requires it and we have a substandard insufficient water system. That is all exempt. Not a de minimis waiver.  That is all exempt.”

NORM HAYNIE:  “With regard to treatment systems, if it works, if you have a wastewater treatment specialist that can say that your system works: fine. You should be able to keep it without having to move forward with an advanced wastewater treatment system.”

JO DRUMMOND:  “New building standards will improve the safety of our community, and we can adhere to these, so we do not need constant pushback and endless reviews to bottleneck us in the process.”

COLLIN DRUMMOND:  “During the meeting with the fire chief we had today they stated the block walls were integral to deflecting embers and wildfire during this most recent fire so they recommended it would be done without the process. Please add this.”

Just a sampling of constructive and important points made by Malibu residents last night. 

But some of those recommendations may prove controversial.

State water law may require new septic system replacements. 

Currently … concrete block walls are largely banned … because wildlife cannot get through them.

And in the past … concrete block walls were not deemed compatible with the Malibu ay of Life.

One thing is becoming apparent.  The oceanfront houses of eastern Malibu are going to look radically different … when they are rebuilt. 

Federal flood control maps might require houses to be built at a much higher baseline elevation … to avoid wave uprush as the ocean level rises.

Some houses may have to be rebuilt on stilts … four feet or eight feet or even higher than they used to be. 

That means some old houses … that were 35 feet high … may be slowed to be rebuilt 35 feet above the new foundations … which would be on stilts 8 feet above the highway. 

Planning Commissioner Kraig Hill says Caltrans may want beachfront houses pushed further back from the side of the road … for safety improvements. 

He noted one member of the public … who wants a seawall installed next to the highway …  and then push the houses out over the ocean … on piers above seabed owned by the California State Lands Commission. 

70975 HILL RAMP  

“The state would take the extra 15 feet to accommodate what they want to do on the highway … and exchange give 15 feet the State Lands commission side (the ocean). 

“And if you have to raise the level of that … then if you can back the house away from the highway, you could have a ramp rather than having to have the cars step up 4 feet In a 2 foot width or whatever.”

Another Planning Commissioner … Skylar Peak … also advocated for moving the oceanfront houses further out to sea.

He favored having property owners build vertical walls straight down to the ocean level .. right next to the highway.

There would have to be a sewer to remove wastewater that used to flow into septic tanks … right next to the ocean. 

And bridge ramps at every house … to go up from the state highway to the new … elevated houses … sticking out further to sea. 

That is a gigantic can of worms. 

The idea of the State of California allowing Malibu homeowners to rebuild houses … that may have been encroaching on the state highway … that may have been encroaching over the publicly-owned beaches … that may be hard to achieve … to put it mildly.

One big issue of contention was traffic control.

A row of hundred of houses … under construction … on a state highway.

Planning Commission chairman Kraig Hill and Assistant city attorney Kellan Martz:

70977 HILL PCH CRANES

“How does the traffic management … the construction management work, on PCH?  

“Because there you are talking about cranes and blocking traffic. 

“Caltrans is going to have to have a real vision on what we can and cannot  to do.”

CITY ATTY:  “That is also quite a bit outside of the jurisdiction of the planning commission. 

HILL:  But again this is what we are hear tonight to do, and this is the big elephant in the room.”

CITY ATTY: “No it is not. “

HILL: “But this is under our jurisdiction.” 

CITY ATTY: “No no you don’t. You don’t have jurisdiction over the construction and Caltrans and that kind of thing.”

Again … that issue was passed on to the city council. 

And not all of the public was happy with what the Planning Department has done so far.

Malibu’s architects complained that they have more knowledge than City Hall on how to build safely … within applicable laws and codes.

They say … they are being frozen out of the law rewrite process. 

Lester Tobias.

70890 ARCHITECTS TOBIAS BURDGE – 

“Something kind of miraculous happened in the last two weeks based on this fire, which is that the local design community started talking to each other as a group.

“We provide the interface between the homeowner and the regulatory industrial complex.

“We’ve been frozen out of this process – OK?
“We’ve been totally sidelined.  The staff has siloed themselves to come up with this stuff.”

Malibu architect Lester Tobias was followed by another Malibu architect .. Doug Burdge.

70890 ARCHITECTS TOBIAS BURDGE

“This is a big showing.  This is why we are here.

“We’re here to help you figure this out and we have great ideas and I think we can champion ourselves to get together and put it together as a big group  … because we have these details. 

“We’re getting calls every day … multiple calls.

”We want to help and we’re want to help … but we need to be together.

“We can’t be at the kids’ table anymore. 

“We want to be in the room and we want to be involved.”

Architect Doug Burdge.

Again… no votes last night.  Just a consensus of opinion … from the public and the planning commission … for the city council to conside

Soil Testing Will be Done By Universities After FEMA Bails Out

The federal government has stopped testing soil and water on fire burned properties in the Palisades Fire burn zone.

Several universities have announced plans to send students in to gather samples … and test them for contaminants. 

One of the projects is called “Community Action Project LA,” made up of Loyola Marymount Purdue and Tulane University

Brianna Gilbert is managing director … and she told NBC Los Angeles that her group will step in where FEMA has walked away.

70983 QUINN LOYOLA 

“The goal is to give this data back to the homeowners.

“And then if homeowners want to be talking  their elected officials to their community leaders … then they can be pushing for change bit they will be data-informed.”

This University testing project has been sponsored by the RF King foundation, which is funding it.

Mercury General and Safeco/Liberty Mutual Get OK To Hike Insurance Rates

Two major fire insurance companies have been given state permission to raise their rates.

Mercury General is the fifth largest home insurer in the state … with 660 thousand customers.

It will begin raising rates in late March by an average of 12% for homeowners 

Safeco, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, will see rates rise by an average of 7.2% in May. About 86,700 customers are affected.

Liberty Mutual’s rate increase doesn’t impact condo owners or renters … because Liberty Mutual is exiting the condo and rental market and telling all those customers in California to pound sand. 

 

KBUU’s volunteer engineers are Michelle Bradley, Josh Bohn. Mike Hutchens, Diane Laetz, Richard Stutsman, Jim Toten and Michael Wollard.