PCH Will Not Be Opening To General Traffic Anytime Soon, Sheriff’s Deputy Says, As Malibu PCH Passes May Be Easier To Get From City of LA

Caltrans and the Army Corps of Engineers have told the LA county sheriff’s office that PCH will not be open to general traffic anytime soon.

Heavy cranes are being brought in and set up on the ocean side of the roadway  … to remove burned out wooden supports from the surf line. 

Dump trucks and cranes will be blocking multiple lanes … and the trucks will be making unusual turns that will require the traffic to be stopped.

As for getting one of those highly sought-after passes … it appears that the Disaster Resource Center in West los Angeles is the easy place to get a pass to enter the PCH construction zone. 

Sgt Chris Soderlund told the Public Safety Commission last night … there is some confusion about who can get a pass…. down at at the LA center.

71041 CLOSURE CONFUSE

“The city of Los Angeles is controlling the Disaster Resource Center. It’s civilian staff over there issuing passes.

“I’m not sure what their guidance has been.

“The guidance that everyone was given by the elected officials was: residents and essential personnel.

“So tell me what is essential.  What’s essential you might not be essential to somebody else … right?

“And in the California basically what is the emergency manual, there’s no such thing as ‘essential personnel.’”

On PCH itself … the dangerous mix of traffic and large trucks continues. 

A large number of dump trucks and other heavy vehicles are making unusual maneuvers on the road.

The state may soon be placing K-rail along PCH on both sides of the roadway for the almost six mile closure zone.

Soderlund says the Army Corps Of Engineers and Caltrans are in control of the decision … to limit traffic on PCH … which is of course the only major road between the L-A freeways and Malibu. 

Marathon City Council Session Continues Into Day 4: Accord Reached On Taller Replacement Buildings

Malibu’s city council met for another six hours last night … and moved closer to changing the city’s planning rules to make major changes to take advantage of a governor’s suspension of coastal commission rules in the fire zone. 

And they are not done … the marathon multi-day meeting will continue tonight at 6:30.

The big issues were on the height of replacement structures along the oceanfront … and whether the city needs to bring its changes to the Coastal Commission on a rush basis in the first place?

Council and Bruce Silverstein argued over and over again that the big rush to get changes approved by the coastal commission on a breakneck schedule is misp[alced.

He argued that the governor’s order that the Coastal Commission get removed from Palisades Fire rebuild permits makes the whole thing moot. 

71038 SILVERSTEIN RUSH

“I don’t understand what the rush to get to Coastal is, because the governor’s order has wiped out Coastal. 

“We have some minimal things we probably need to do under the municipal code, to get you all functioning under the governor’s order so that the city is in line with the state.

“All the other stuff we’re doing is for Woolsey, Franklin, Broad and the future.

“And those are all important, and we should have done Wooolsey six years ago.

“But that is not the thing that sets these papers in motion.”

Well, yes it is, said council member Marianne Riggins. 

The governors order affected only victims of the Palisades fire.  And Malibu has fire victims who suffered in the three fires before that.

71045 RIGGINS OTHER FIRES

“Even though (the) Palisades Fire is the largest fire that we’ve got, the Franklin Fire happened a month before, and these local coastal program changes are for their benefit. 

“The Broad Fire happened a month before that, and there are homes on the beach that were burned, and it will help them.

“So even though it may not have a material effect on the Palisades Fire, we do have two other recent fires and it will help them.

“Not to mention: we do have Woolsey Fire rebuilds that are being held up and could actually benefit from the streamlining.

“So we can get them wrapped up and we can get those people back in their homes..”

Riggins said that the Coastal Commission door is open now … for the first and only time … for changes to Malibu’s municipal code, and for changes to the Coastal-imposed LCP … and the city needs to take advantage of that.

The next big issue was the height of replacement houses along PCH … particularly along La Costa Beach … where rebuilt houses may end up up to 20 percent higher than the houses that had burned down. 

FEMA flood maps from the federal government indicate that the baseline floor level of the oceanfront houses need to be elevated – in some cases four feet – in some cases eight feet.

For a 28 foot high house … the current legally-permitted height limit … the final roof line may end up 36 feet above ground level … 

Former city council member Paul Grisaani reminded the city council Wednesday night … that those FEMA maps are based on wildly incorrect assumptions … and their baseline assumptions are too high.

71038 GRISANTI FATALLY FLAWED

“The FEMA wave uprush study is fatally flawed.

“The way they did it was, they picked a point on the map once every mile … and whatever happened to be at that point that that was they calculated the wave up rush for everything in between them.

“These points are mile apart.”

But the city is stuck with using the bad maps. 

Houses might be elevated according to the FEMA maps … and that would block coastal horizon views for about 30 houses on the inland side of the road.

City planner Tyler Eaton last night came up with a compromise … an attempt to split the baby.

71037 TYLER REQUEST

“You are allowed to go up to the increases necessary to meet FEMA … but you shall to the maximum extent feasible protect your neighbors’ bluewater views.

“And those replacement structures should seek increases in their floor area laterally before they are allowed to increase vertically as viewed by your neighbor.”

One city council member … Marianne Riggins … said the solution might be to allow the replacement houses to be built on top of the FEMA platforms …

Then allow those fire rebuild houses to start measuring their elevation at the new FEMA elevation requirement …aAnd give those houses up to 10 percent in additional space. 

But … she says those houses’ overall height cannot go up any higher if the original houses had violated the city’s height limit of 28 feet … the additional room would have to be in the length and width.

Another decision … to require temporary houses located on fire lots to be removed after a few years … under threat of law … and big fines.

Some people in the Woolsey Fire area are still living in so-called temporary houses … read that as mobile homes … six years after the old house burned down. 

The city council does not like that … one called it “shenanigans.”

And the council last night decided not to mess with the existing ban on ADUs … Auxiliary Dwelling Units … for houses that have only one escape street link to Pacific Coast Highway.

Some people up in Big Rock said they wanted that rule to be changed … they want ADUs.

The city council does not like that.

Councilman Steve Uhring said … that it is a bad idea to increase the number of people living on streets like Big Rock.

71043 ADU 20 FEET

“I don’t know how many you guys watched the Palisades Fire and the cars coming down Palisades Drive. 

“At least as I watched it … the cars coming down couldn’t get out … and the firetrucks couldn’t get in.

“Now … do you want to replicate that…  putting ADUs up at Big Rock?”

The city council agreed with Uhring and decided not to change ADU rules. 

There are a few items still on the city council’s list of changes … and the city council will be back in session tonight at 6:30 to finish the job.

This weekend … the city attorney and the city’s planners will come up with an ordinance listing everything that the city council reached consensus.

That proposed ordinance will be read before the city council twice before it goes up to the coastal commission for changes there in April. 

New MHS Classroom Building 85% Done, It May Open To Students On First Day Of School: August 2025

Construction in the new Malibu high school classroom building is 85% finished… And it’s possible that classes could start in the new building this fall.

Th official completion date is next December … and rain could delay the hoped-for completion date past the first day of school this fall. 

District operations Director Carrie Upton told a construction bond oversight committee yesterday that work, remains to be done, finishing the classrooms and the landscaping and walkways outside.

The new building was funded by the first ever Malibu only school bond election… Measure M … a 190 million dollar bond issue approved by voters in 2019.

Malibu voters last fall approved a second Malibu-only bond issue … the 395 million dollar Measure MM … 

It will pay to knock down the rest of the 70 year old buildings and complete new campuses for Malibu Middle School and the new Malibu High School.

Measure MM money has already been put to work designing the new campus … including the new aquatics complex and middle school gym.  The new pool, like the existing pool, would be open to the general public.

In case you are wondering … how will the fires and the loss of one tenth of the houses affect the tax base that is paying for all this.

School officials tell KBUU that there may be a one or two year drop in tax collections in the next two years.

But the state has promised to backfill lost revenues. 

And they point out … after the Woolsey Fire burned 480 houses in 2018 … property tax revenues actually increased.

Crime In Malibu Drops 40%, But Memo To Bad Guys: Don’t Drop Your Sunglasses

A burglary of a construction site two years ago in western Malibu has been solved. 

Sheriff’s Sgt Chris Soderlund says the burglar made a big mistake.

He dropped his sunglasses …

71041 SKIN DNA

“Suspect a Jeremiah Monstein … white … born 1980.

“In this case, the suspect left sunglasses behind near the point of entry or DNA and criminalist evidence tech swab the bridge portion of the glasses, where they sit on the nose for skin DNA.

“This resulted in a hit and an identification of the suspect.”

The suspect is a parolee and career criminal … with a rap sheet that includes drug dealing … vehicle theft … battery and resisting arrest … violent cruelty to a child … receiving stone property and parole violations.

A warrant is now in the system … but the homeless man’s location is not known.

And we may have buried the lede on this one:

Last night…  the sheriff’s office disclosed that reports of major crimes in Malibu last year went down 40.2 percent.

Young Women Livestreaming Live on SM Pier Get Attacked By Weirdo Watching On His Phone

More shocking crime news from Santa Monica,

Three young women doing a widely-viewed live blog were threatened by a man … a man who threatened to kill them.

A creep in a grey sweatshirt approached them to ask for a photo . Then 30 minutes later came back wearing different clothes. 

The man became aggressive and threatened to fight them.   His cellphone was displaying the victims’ streaming video. 

When the victims call for a security guard to help, the suspect can be heard saying “I’ll kill you right now” while he rushes toward the group.

The women hid in a clothing store … and eventually made their way to the pier’s security office.

Santa Monica police say they took 16 minutes to respond.

The Santa Monica Daily Press reports another female internet star was robbed at gunpoint by thieves targeting her crypto accounts.

She says she may have shot one of her assailants.

More Rain Later Today, Bigger Storms Likely Monday and Wednesday

About a half an inch of rain fell over Malibu yesterday.

A warning about possible mudflows was issued for Malibu Canyon yesterday … but none were observed.

Much more rain is on the way.

A 50 percent chance of rain pops up again late this afternoon.

Windy … with gusts up to 35 miles per hour. 

Expect no more than about a tenth of an inch today .. and a tenth of an inch tonight.

It will be cold … highs near 55 degrees. 

Sunny over there weekend … but a big rainstorm is on the satellite pictures … likely. To hit us Monday night.

One inch of rain or more possible from that one.,

An even stronger and wetter storm is lined up behind the Monday front.