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Panel Gives Malibu a Jolt, Puts County in Charge of Sewers

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Times Staff Writer

In a stunning setback for Malibu cityhood supporters, the Local Agency Formation Commission on Wednesday reversed two earlier decisions and voted to allow Los Angeles County to retain control over sewers in the coastal community for up to 10 years after incorporation.

The action means that if Malibu residents vote to support cityhood next year, the ballot measure would include a provision asking them to give the county jurisdiction over a planned regional sewer system that most Malibu homeowners now oppose. In fact, it was the county’s 1987 plan to build a huge sewer system in Malibu that triggered the incorporation drive.

Legal Opinion Rejected

Although LAFCO members reaffirmed their support of Malibu’s bid to vote on incorporation, the panel rejected its own legal counsel’s opinion that the commission does not have the authority to give the county future jurisdiction over sewers.

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Malibu community leaders, upset over the cost and size of the proposed sewer system, believe that its construction would lead to widespread development in the rural coastal area. Residents face a minimum $10,000 assessment under the proposed sewer plan.

Cityhood advocates said they would consider a lawsuit challenging LAFCO’s action but said they would wait until county supervisors set an election date to make that decision. The next possible election date is in April, 1990.

“The tragedy today is that now we have to put out a ballot issue that is contaminated,” said Larry Wan, president of the Malibu Township Council. “It will create a tremendous amount of confusion and much of the future city’s authority has been impaired.”

Although the proposed 20-square-mile city has long been famous for its celebrities, surf and sandy beaches, during the last two years it has also become known for its struggle over sewers.

LAFCO had rejected two previous attempts by the county to make the cityhood measure contingent on the county’s future control of sewers, voting down the request as recently as May.

But the county once again asked the panel to reconsider its decision, and some intense lobbying of new LAFCO Commissioner Walt Tucker, the absence of panel member Nell Mirels and a decision by LAFCO Chairman Thomas Jackson to disqualify himself from the Malibu incorporation issue earlier this year, resulted in a surprise 4-2 vote.

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Tucker gave a terse response when asked after Wednesday’s two-hour hearing why he reversed his position, saying that he didn’t “fully understand the issue” when he voted to reject the county’s request in May. Mirels was on vacation and Jackson has declined to say why he disqualified himself after supporting Malibu’s cityhood bid for more than 1 1/2 years.

County Supervisor Deane Dana, a member of LAFCO, asked the panel to support the sewer condition, arguing that the waste-water disposal system was needed to ensure that “adequate public services are being provided” to the millions that visit the famed beachside haven each year.

In 1985, the county declared that a public health hazard exists in Malibu because of leaking septic systems, a move that allowed the supervisors to approve a sewer system without a vote of the community’s 20,000 residents.

“I cannot favor the position of a few residents over the welfare of an entire county,” Dana said.

However, Supervisor Ed Edelman, who also serves on LAFCO, voted against the sewer condition, arguing that the county would retain “whatever jurisdiction it is entitled to under the law.” He said that if LAFCO approved the county’s request, “we would simply be inviting more litigation.”

Supervisors unanimously approved a $43-million sewer system for Malibu in January, and county officials have been attempting to move quickly on the sewer issue before the residents have a chance to vote on cityhood. The California Coastal Commission is scheduled to review the county’s sewer plan in September.

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LAFCO’s action will also allow the county to retain control over an assessment district in Malibu’s Big Rock Mesa, site of a massive landslide that destroyed or damaged more than 250 homes several years ago. Earlier this year, the county agreed to pay $35 million of a $97-million settlement to Big Rock homeowners for its role in approving development in the landslide area.

The county recently told angry Big Rock residents that they may have to pay up to $100,000 for an extensive pumping system designed to remove water from the hillsides, as well as a separate assessment for the proposed sewer system.

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