City Asks For Quick Cost Estimates For 6 Sewer Options, As Architecture Dean Says It’s Time To Walk Away From Beach Cliff Houses

The possibility of a sewer serving part of the Malibu fire burn area will get further study … but right now … there are enormous problems rising.

It’s not just the money … or the years it would take … or the disagreements between property owners over how to pay for it. 

One architect says it’s time to walk way. 

Last night … the city council asked its staff to perform a quick analysis of six possible sewage treatment plans for the 327 oceanfront houses that burned in the Palisades Fire.

Possibilities include building 7 miles of sewage mains to pump the effluent to the city’s sewage treatment plant at the Civic Center. 

That treatment plant has the capacity to handle a lot more sewage … but the clean water cannot be dumped in the ocean … a place has to be found to either inject it into the ground … or use it.

One architect … Christopher Sorenson … said the water could be reused here in Malibu. 

CHRISTOPHER SORENSON 71186

“The big thing is when you put effluent water back into the ground that’s the big hurdle.

“So what if we don’t put it back into the ground?

“What if we had storage tanks – 1 million gallons, 3 million gallons?  

“Several across the way …  we would have our own water for fire and we use landscape irrigation … using all this water that we and flushing out to the bay.

“Let’s store it. Let’s use it for the next fire.”

Other possibilities …  sending clean treated water from the Civic Center plant up Malibu Canyon … in an existing pipe from Pepperdine University … to the Tapia Water recycling center up the canyon.

Las Virgenes is building its Pure Water System … converting that water to drinking water. 

In fact … LAs Virgenes is studying desalination of ocean water from Malibu … treated Malibu effluent would be cheaper to distill into pure water than salt water.

And the city could sell our water to Las Virgenes. 

Another possibility … pumping raw Malibu sewage down to LAX to be treated at the Hyperion sewage plant. 

But the city says getting approval from LA, Santa Monica and the state water board would take ten years.

Plus … there are major questions about the geological stability of PCH between Topanga Canyon and Santa Monica.

California State Parks just studied building a connection from Topanga Lagoon to LA … and concluded the ground under PCH could not handle it.

Another possibility … a series of small treatment plants along the beaches on PCH … injecting the clean water into the ground to flow into the ocean.

But some experts said no … injecting groundwater anywhere under eastern Malibu cannot be done safely.

Maybe the existing septic tanks under the burned properties can be reused???

One voice yesterday said those tanks are notorious for breeding hepatitis… the existing septic tank already were causing disease for anyone who swims or surfs in eastern Malibu.

Maybe the city should set up a tax district … build a three mile long seawall … and let homeowners install individual sewage treatment plants under every house???
Maybe.

City staff has two weeks to estimate the costs and benefits for six alternatives … 

Cost Of Rebuilding Platforms For Houses May Hit $6 Million Per Lot

How much money will it cost to rebuild each of the 327 houses along the burned Malibu beaches???

One coastal developer … Robert McCloud … said some oceanfront lot owners who try to rebuild may face up to six million dollars in costs for their foundations. 

In many cases … two seawalls would be necessary:  a bulkhead in front to protect the house and its septic tank… and a retaining wall in back to hold up PCH from falling into the ocean.

McCloud says … the government has to step in.

MCCLOUD COSTS 71118 

“What’s the price of the house on the coast and who’s gonna be building the people that had the cabins or the houses that were like those that were on wooden pilings, pilings that are useless today and useless tomorrow.

“So they unfortunately may not be able to afford those houses 

“… For the people that can .. and who do want to build on the Coast Highway … the only reasonable way to build is with a (common) bulkhead built by the government by the state or the feds.

“Or it could be built by an emergency geologic district … or in this case a sanitation district that could tap in to reach each homeowner who would be more than willing to pay $200,000 each to plug-in to the side of the highway.”

The idea of state or federal money paying money to protect ocean front houses in Malibu … however … may be fantasy.

Not every homeowner can afford even the $200,000 rough estimate for a common seawall and sewer. 

One spoke yesterday …

SHACK 71187

“In order to keep Malibu a community of families, we believe the implementation of the sewer is necessary and eastern Malibu it would make the rebuild as much more palatable to the homeowners.

“The cost of $500,000 per home … it’s a large chunk of what we have from the insurance companies already.

“Personally (at) my parents house that’s 2/3 of our construction budget that we have.

“We would have a shack left over … rather than the two bedroom two bathroom house that burned down.”

Ed Niles Says Houses Do Not Belong On Steep Areas Of Malibu Coast

One homeowner who spoke yesterday … we could not hear his name. 

As if that was not devastating enough … the city council meeting went silent … after prominent architect Ed Niles spoke.

Niles is the retired dean of the USC architecture school.

And he said the steep oceanfront of eastern Malibu is not suitable for houses, perched between PCH and the ocean on narrow land.

NILES 

“I’ve been out here for 64 years. I really do not understand how you can justify building on the ocean to begin with. 

“I have seen the evolution of the ocean. I have seen it destroyed .

“I taught environmental engineering at USC.  One of the first things we did was use the ocean as a model for design.

“And I can tell you clearly, that the simple answer for the ocean and I don’t wanna step on anybody, I’m trying to: is to stay away from it.

“The simple matter for the ocean is to get the state to build the highway properly for everybody.

“The simple matter for the ocean is not to build … to ask the state to come up or the federal government to come up with a reimbursement for the value of the property as it stands today.

“So that’s one thing.

“You definitely have a value and your values created by what you own the state or the government cannot take it according to the constitution without funding it.

“So that should be a lot of people who do not have coverage … who should not be sitting here suffering as they worry if the water is gonna come down on top of them.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to drive out to the Valley to go to USC. 

“It’s a ridiculous assumption to have anybody assume that they could walk up to a house or sa tructure and ascertain whether the concrete foundation has been destroyed by looking at it, by kissing it, by hugging it.

“Nor does it have to do with the steel, the wood, everything required to build it.

“So how good the architect is, which I am, ot the engineering. which I’ve done. 

“I do not understand what you’re being fed as the public.

“You’re being raised to a pedestal that somehow you’re going to accomplish this.

“And I don’t want to say you shouldn’t … but it needs an incredible amount of funds and money.”

In other parts of the country … FEMA has routinely come in to pay people to leave their property.It is routine federal policy for the federal government to pay 75 percent of the cost … to pay landowners 75 percent of the fair value of the property before it got destroyed.

That has been used in hurricane areas … tornado areas … flood areas all across the country.

There has been no talk about bringing in FEMA money to buy out Malibu oceanfront residents … who found themselves hopelessly underinsured in the aftermath of a major natural disaster.

Big Rock Apparently Does Not Want Sewer, Local Architects Hate ‘Self Certification’ Idea

A couple of apparent items of consensus were spoken yesterday at the city council meeting.

One … residents of Big Rock say they do not need a sewer.

They say their septic tanks are working properly … and that the low flow sewers and showers that they use are not causing any danger of renewed land slippage.

In 1983 … a major landslide hot Big Rock Mesa … and prompted the installation of wells and pipes that drain underground water out to sea.

Those are still working perfectly … slippage has stopped … they said.

Two .. near unanimous consent from the public speakers Thursday that the idea of self certification is not good.

That concept was t ospeed up city plan checks by allowing qualified engineers to certify that their plans meet engineering safety rules.

Here’s one local architect:

SELF CERT 

“My concern is that self certification on these projects you don’t have local experience with local design professionals and with the self certification it’s just open to too much shenanigans.”

No votes were taken yesterday… but it was clear that the message was delivered to the city Council… Self certification is not a good idea.

Army Contractors Working Late Into Night On PCH Wreckage West of Rambla Pacifico

Crews working for the Army Corps of Engineers were working all night … overnight Thursday into Friday.

They are tearing out debris from a destroyed office building … just across the parking lot from the old Malibu sheriff’s station … down on La Costa Beach just west of Rambla Pacifico.

Trucks were being loaded late into the night … as the Army is racing to tear down fire debris.

The Army has sped up the work … and it may get its trucks off the road much sooner than originally predicted. 

But the platoons of construction workers burying power lines are also on the road seven days a week. 

FAIR Plan Sued For Failing To Cover Smoke Damage Cleaning 

California insurance companies are being sued for alleged bad faith and breach of contract … cover smoke damage.

Ten families yesterday sued the California Fair plan and several insurance companies for failing to clean smoke damage from their homes.

Mercury, Farmers, the Triple A and State Farm are also accused of cheating customers out of money … over how they handle claims from the January fires.

Saul Kerpelman’s house survived the Palisades Fire … but it is filled with toxic dirt. 

He told ABC 7 that the Fair Plan told him to clean it himself.

KERPELMAN 

“The FAIR plan’s stands is that our house is dirty and that there’s not fire damage.

“All this toxic stuff that got sucked into the house that made our house dirty and that we should be willing to go back in there and live in this place.”

Kerpelman spoke to ABC 7.

The insurance industry tells the L A Times there is a legitimate dispute over the exact language of home insurance policies … and whether cleaning smoke damage is actually covered.

“there are different views on what is a compensable smoke claim and there are no state standards,” he tells the LA Times. 

“We are unaware of any external scientific consensus on this.”

A spokeswoman for the California Fair plan says their policies are consistent with other major insurers … they “require direct physical loss for there to be coverage.”

The California insurance commission issued a bulletin last month … specifically naming the Fair Plan.

He said insurance companies must “handle smoke damage claims in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and best practices for remediation of smoke damage.”

Coastal Commission OKs Changes To Malibu LCP Without Usual Malibu Bashing 

The California Coastal Commission yesterday approved  … without comment … changes to Malibu’s LCP … the Local Coastal Plan that regulates Malibu land use. 

That has never in history happened. 

Not one comment from the commission … as it passed the changes wither discussion. 

The coastal commissioners have already been ordered by the gocernbor to get out of the way … and cease issuing objections to Palisades fire rebuild projects.

The city moved to expand that exemption to other fire areas … and to change Malib;s city zoning codes to handle the vacuum caused by Coastal getting muzzled by the governor. 

Not one voice in opposition as the Malibu changes passed on the consent agenda yesterday.

Coastal Fines Texas Oil Company $18 Million For Unauthorized Work On Platforms

The hammer was dropped on a Texas oil company … by the California Coastal Commission.

Yesterday … Sable Oil Company was fined 18 million dollars for bulldozing a wetland … adding concrete to the seafloor … and digging across state owned beaches without permits … 

This was at its oil platforms and leaky pipeline … 70 miles upcoast from Malibu … up near Santa Barbara.

The Texas oil company claims its work is merely maintenance … which it says is allowed under a permit it got for the platforms and pipeline 40 years ago.

The platforms and pipeline have been shut down since a crude oil spill several years ago … which coasted miles of Santa Barbara and Ventura county beaches.

Staff had recommended 14 million dollars in fines … the commission upped that to 18 million.

$19 For A Strawberry, No Extra Charge For The Extra Imported Protein

The coffee and smoothie bar at Erewhon Market in Santa Monica was shut down earlier this week when the county found cockroaches under the coffee machine.

Inspectors found two live nymph German cockroaches in the cabinet under the ‘Simonelli’ coffee machine,” … as well as a dead roach.

Erewhon made headlines last month for selling a single Elly Amai organic strawberry from Kyoto Japan for $19.

A spokesperson for Erewhon says … “we deeply regret that a roach was found in our tonic bar.”

There was no comment from the live cockroaches …over the death of their friend.