Let Malibu Be Malibu (Cont.) : Supervisors Get Well-Deserved Rebuff for Meddling With Residents’ Intentions

Los Angeles County Supervisors got a well-deserved rebuff in court to their latest attempt to impose their will on Malibu before residents of that seaside community have a chance to decide their own future.

This week Superior Court Judge John Zebrowski struck down a transparent attempt by county officials to prevent Malibu from becoming a city until next year, even if the area’s residents vote to incorporate next month. Ordinarily, when an area’s voters opt for cityhood, it occurs just days--at most weeks--after the election. But in Malibu’s case, the county board imposed conditions that would have delayed cityhood until March, 1991. County officials want to keep a stranglehold on Malibu as long as possible so they can start building a new sewer system for the area before any new city government has a chance to stop it.

That controversial sewer system is behind the long-running battle over Malibu’s future. Almost everyone involved concedes that the Malibu area needs a sewer system to replace its aging septic tanks. When those septic tanks malfunction, they pose health hazards not just to Malibu residents but to an already badly polluted Santa Monica Bay. At issue is how big that sewer system needs to be. County officials fought for a big system that would sustain development along Malibu’s coastline, such as that planned around Pepperdine University. But many Malibu residents think the area is developed enough, and insist that a smaller sewer system would work just as well. Many of these same community activists are behind the drive to incorporate Malibu as a city.

It’s obvious that some members of a new Malibu government would try to block any type of sewer system, an extreme move that would be unwise for the area and the people who visit and travel through Malibu. But, right or wrong, whatever happens in Malibu will occur because people in that area voted for it. That’s called democracy--something the five little princes who run Los Angeles County worry about only when they run for reelection.

What should annoy the majority of us who don’t live in Malibu about this ongoing battle is that, in their petulance, the supervisors are wasting taxpayers’ money in lawsuits designed to maintain their power at all costs. One hopes Judge Zebrowski’s ruling convinces them that the silly legal war against Malibu is futile. But don’t count on it.