Calabasas Web Page Admits Local Dump Is Licensed For Fire Debris, But They Oppose Malibu Fire Debris Disposal

Calabasas city officials appear firm in their decision to try to block Malibu fire debris from being dumped in the L A County-owned dump at Lost Hills.

More trucks were turned away by picketers yesterday … and the city of Calabasas has hired a lawyer to file for a court order against Malibu and Palisades debris from being unloaded at the dump.

But in its own report in the controversy … Calabasas admits that the dump is licensed to safely accept fire debris.

Its easy to find the Calabasas statement.

It’s on the city of Calabasas web site about the decision to top to court to block incoming fire debris from the Palisades Fire. 

Calabasas says the city says the Calabasas Landfill has a composite liner to prevent leakage from the site.… and that liquids are collected .. treated … and monitored. 

Any fire debris arriving at the Landfill must have a certificate affirming that there is no hazardous waste in the load. 

And to monitor debris arriving at the facility, the Calabasas Landfill will increase its number of material inspectors from one to three.

That’s according to the City of Calabasas statement about the dump … which has been operating for decades while the suburb grew around it. 

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath represents both Malibu … and Calabasas … and she says the whole controversy is a failure to communicate. 

70960 HORVATH FINGER

“Every level of government has failed to provide the basic information our communities deserve on the plan for fire debris disposal.

“Officials should have proactively communicated with all of us about how we are rolling this out and how this affects our residents… Unfortunately, the answers we have gotten are insufficient at best, and have caused even further confusion.

And she says  … it’s not her fault.  And not the County’s decision.

“The Board of Supervisors does not ultimately decide where and how waste is disposed.

“The Army Corps decides where to take debris based on the state-approved, licensed locations.” 

The L A County Supervisor bales the whole thing on bad communications … from the Army Corps of Engineers … about details on the landfill safety.

But … as we said … those details were issued by the City of Calabasas. 

Calabasas City Council says it vehemently opposes any fire debris from being brought to the Calabasas Landfill. 

This despite the fact that fire debris from Calabasas was admitted to the dump without controversy after the Wolsey Fire.

They have directed the City Attorney to explore an injunction against state and federal agencies …

And they want to haul the waste to rural areas in Nevada and elsewhere.

That would add two days to each round trip … instead of two hours.

Malibu Residents Unload: They Want Fast Rebuilding Permits

Outpourings of grief and demands for help.

That as the theme last night as Malibu residents spoke before the Malibu Planning Commission.

Like this man:

70963 OVATION

“You talk to 4 or 5 builders, and they all tell you, you can build your home within 8 to 10 months as long as it’s like 2,500, 3,000 square-foot home.

“You can build it in 8 to 10 months.

“So you come to your first city council meeting last week and all the council members are arguing amongst each other for an hour.

“And then they tell you that we think we can get you in your home in 30 months.

“And they expect a standing ovation. “

The commission has been given just a half week to collect information and act on recommendations to change city planning and zoning rules … to make rebuilding faster.

Tomorrow night at 5:30 comes a special city council meeting … to finalize recommendations to be forwarded to the city council.

Some big Rock residents have very concise and specific recommendations. 

Scott Dittrich. 

70966 SCOTT DITTRICH

“So how can we trim costs, not requiring unnecessary things.

“One is for technical experts, like your geotechnical engineer on your foundation, to be able to self certify.

“That eliminates a whole step from staff and potentially from you guys.”

Dittrich did not lose his house on Big Rock .. but most of his neighbors did. 

The homeowners association on Big Rock has a list of changes in the forty building process …. Changes to speed up rebuilding. 

Jo Drummond did lose her house. 

70965 REVIEW DRUMMOND

“We would love to put in the codes of 10 day building and safety limit, so when it goes into this department, it has to be returned within 10 days and for all the agency approvals.

“We need pre-meetings necessary on site to allow parallel preparations along with debris removals.”

One item of controversy is foundations.

Many houses that were lost had been built on flat slabs. 

But current buildings codes may require that the hillside be stabilized … with vertical concrete columns to be installed underneath. 

Those vertical structures are called caissons. 

Leah Johnson lives in a house that burned … and she says putting in casinos will ruin her financially. 

70962 LEAH JOHNSON. 

“If we are forced by the City of Malibu to put caissons on our property when we rebuild, there’s no way we can rebuild.

“That would mean that we will be forced to move out of Malibu because caissons are over million dollars … which are cost-prohibitive.

“And there’s just no money and there’s no way we can rebuild in that case.”

But foundations like caissons are part of state building codes.

And the city planning commission can’t change those. 

City Planning Commissioner John Mazza reminded the residents that the Planning Commission does not vote on fire rebuilds.

Fire rebuilds are handled by the planning staff … as an administrative matter. They do not go before the Planning Commission.

70961 MAZZA THU

“The Planning Commission – after next Thursday – has absolutely nothing to do with if it’s a rebuild it’s an administrator process. It does not come to the planning commission. 

“The only power we have is to make recommendations to the city Council. We can’t change anything.”

Tomorrow night at 6:30 the planning commission will meet to consider changes… suggested by the public … to the city’s building process.

(CORRECTION:  This item was corrected to reflect that the meeting starts at 6:30.)

New Commissioner Elizabeth Riddick Quickly Becomes Swing Vote Between Two Sides

Elizabeth Riddick was sworn in as the new Planning Commissioner last night.

And she wants some changes int he way the meetings drone on into the evening. 

She wants the commissioners to make their speeches after the meeting … not before.

70964 RIDDICK AGENDA 

“I would like to consider moving commissioner comments and discussion to the end of the agenda.

“And the reason I want to do that is because I think it’s imperative that when our community comes here with consultants and architects and epresentatives, and they are paying for their time that is our job to get to their agenda items and get through the agenda.

“And then when we’re done, we can stay till midnight or 1 o’clock or however, we want however long we want to discuss whatever items. “

Elizabeth Riddick.

When she was trying to get her project through the Planning Commission … she was repeatedly kept waiting late into the night … only to be put off for two weeks because the commission ran out of time.

There have been frequent complaints that commissioners eat up the available time by bickering about the agenda or making extensive public comments … before considering the projects that are coming up.

As clearly demonstrated last night … Malibu’s new planning commission will have two factions again.

John Mazza and Kraig Hill … on one side … and Skylar Peak and Drew Leonard on the other. 

The swing vote is the new commissioner … Elizabeth Riddick.

And Riddick split the baby last night … on the first matters to face the reconstituted board. 

That would be … which side gets to hold the power to be the chairperson?

Riddick voted for Kraig Hill to be chairman … also supported by John Mazza and Hill … who voted for himself. 

Skylar Peak and Drew Leonard opposed.  

But Riddick backed the other side in the election for vice chairman … casting the decision-making swing vote for Skylar Peak. 

After that … even Hill seemed to grow tired of interruptions by his supposed political ally … John Mazza.

Last night … Mazza seized the microphone during the time reserved for the public to speak.

That was too much for even his supposed political supporter … Kraig Hill … who tried to prevent Mazza from speaking out of turn

70967 FILIBUSTER 

HILL: “Can you keep it to the end, John?”

MAZZA: “No.”

HILL: “Please hold it to the end? We gotta get … we are going to get through these people.”

MAZZA, INTERUPTING : “Let me please explain. I just want to explain something to them. So they understand that …  [SHOUTING OFF MIC ]]] that … I just want the audience to understand that … 

ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY, INTERRUPTING: “Commissioner Mazza, you are not running this meeting. So you are going to have to let the chair run the meeting.

[[[APPLAUSE]]]]

MAZZA, STAMMERING:  “I am trying to.”

ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY, INTERRUPTING: “No.  No. It is not in your place ”

MAZZA: “Okay, decorum.”

HILL:  “John!  John!”

MAZZA, INTERRUPTING: “Okay, decorum will cost you a lot of time in the things we are talking about.”

The adult voices you heard were the assistant city attorney … and the assistant city clerk, trying to restore order. 

Meet the new Planning Commission … same as the old Planning Commission.

Metro Abandons Malibu, Admits It Has Not Considered Malibu Shuttle, Detour Bus

Metro officials are saying that they have not abandoned public transit in Malibu … despite the fact that public transit has been abandoned in Malibu.

The MTA used to run 34 buses a day up Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica.

Not only did hundreds of people rely on those buses to get to work … but dozens relied on that bus service to get from one point inside Malibu to another. 

KBUU asked Metro last week… what are their plans.

The Santa Monica school district has gotten permission run its bus on PCH … but Metro has apparently not made any effort to reuse bus service to and from Malibu. 

Further … MTA has failed to start any sort of shuttle service inside Malibu … a serve that was used by dozens of people starting and ending their trips within Malibu every day.

And beyond that … MTA Has not done anything to link Malibu to the rest of LA County … via Malibu Canyon Road.

The MTA says bus service from Malibu to the San Fernando Valley has been the responsibility of Los Angeles County… Because the county runs a summer beach bus.

That bus uses Topanga Canyon Boulevard during the summer months only… It’s winter now and Topanga Canyon Boulevard is closed until further notice.

That bus also does not enter the city of Malibu… It goes from the valley through Topanga Canyon to Santa Monica .

Metro has a staff of full-time public affairs personnel… None of whom could find the time to speak with KB radio on the phone.

They did give us a statement that did not answer our questions … about marooning Malibu.

They did give us a vague statement that “Metro is considering a shuttle service north of Malibu Civic Center to address transit needs if the PCH reopening is further delayed.”

And what about running a shuttle ferry from Malibu to Santa Monica … like was done back in the 1990s … when PCH was closed by a landslide for many weeks?
Says Metro … that service “was not previously provided by Metro … and we are not aware of any plans by other agencies to provide this service.”

You’re on your own … says Metro. 

Small Oil Company Sued By Coastal Over Attempts To Resurrect Dinosaur Oil Platforms Off UCSB

There’s another twist in the fight over whether the pipeline responsible for the massive 2015 Santa Barbara County oil spill should be allowed to be repaired and reopened.

Now, the State Coastal Commission has issued a cease and desist order to Sable Offshore Corporation.

And Sable has filed a lawsuit back at the state. 

Sable has been trying to resume pumping oil from three creaky old oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel … 65 miles up the coast from Malibu..

The pipeline that connects the platforms to oil refineries in Bakersfield broke 8 years ago .. and sent oil down the coast as far as just above Malibu.

Sable has been seeking permits to rebuild damaged sections of the pipeline so it can restart three oil platforms off the Santa Barbara County coastline. The pipeline is key to the platforms being able to ship oil to refineries.

In a letter from the Commission’s Executive Director, the agency claims there have been violations including excavation, the removal of plants, plus pipeline removal, replacement, and reinforcement. 

The letter also claims there’s been unpermitted placement of sand and cement bags on the ocean floor near some out of service facilities. 

The order says the work has been occurring without Coastal Act Authorization.

This morning … Sable sued the state.