Civic Center Way Reconstruction Gets Flashing Yellow From Planning Commission

Plans to reconstruct Civic Center Way have moved through the city planning commission… despite tons of criticism.

The city council has decided to smooth out the roadway … remove the crest of a hill and ease up on a tight curve … on Civic Center Way between Pepperdine and Legacy park. and add bike lanes…

In order  to do that … a retaining wall will have to be built into the hillside near the traffic light next to Webster Elementary School.

One planning commissioner … John Mazza … took aim at the retaining wall …. and said it belongs in a different Southern California city … Downey.

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“ It belongs in Downey … just like the intersection with the 14 lights belongs in Downey.

“It is to be designed under Malibu standards.”

Mazza also hammered the city’s design for conflicting with the conditions that the city slapped on the project up the hill … the proposed Malibu cemetery.

Another planning commissioner … Steve Uhring … complained that straightening out Civic Center Way will funnel more cars onto Malibu canyon Road … making it harder for resdients to get out of the small neighborhoods up the hill.

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“Every afternoon from 3 o’clock to 5 o’clock – if you live on Malibu Canyon Road – you cannot get out of the roads   – be they Harbor Vista or Malibu Crest or be it Malibu Knolls Road – because you’ve got the stream of cars coming out of Pepperdine … and you’ve got the other stream of cars that are coming up Civic Center Way … there’s no breaks … there are no traffic breaks.

“All I’m saying that as you were building this work done here you can create another problem up there when we have some solutions in place to help deal with the problem we’re creating up there.”

Steve Uhring … who of course disclosed that he lives up the hill from the proposed project.

The Planning Commissioners slapped a few conditions on the proposal … which moves next to the city council for a decision.