Panel Signals Impatience With County Over Malibu Sewer Plan : Environment: The coast commission delays a vote on the matter, indicating that supervisors should wait for cityhood before continuing to pursue the system.

Faced with almost certain defeat over a proposal to build a controversial sewer system in Malibu, Los Angeles County officials Thursday settled for a last-minute postponement of the matter before the California Coastal Commission.

But in delaying its decision until April, the commission signaled its impatience with the county’s attempts to build the sewer system while it continues to stall Malibu’s efforts to become a city.

“People have surely voted and made it clear they don’t want the county to dictate (its wishes on the sewer),” Commissioner David Malcolm said. “I really think now the county should wait (for cityhood) before it goes ahead.”

Jubilant sewer opponents hailed the action as evidence that the county’s longtime struggle to build the sewer system despite widespread community opposition may have finally run out of steam.

“I think they see that they’re licked and don’t really want to suffer the pain,” said Missy Zeitsoff, a member of Malibu’s elected, but unempowered, City Council.

Malibu voters last June overwhelmingly approved cityhood, and the campaign for incorporation was fueled primarily by opposition to the county’s sewer plan. Nonetheless, county officials, in an effort to start work on the sewer before a new Malibu government has the chance to block it, have used legal maneuvers to delay the actual incorporation until March.

Thursday’s developments appear to make it much less likely that the county will be able to accomplish its aims.

At the hearing, attended by about 200 sewer opponents who jammed into a Marina del Rey meeting hall, a lawyer for the county asked for the delay after it became obvious that a majority of commissioners were hostile to the county’s plans.

By law, the county had the right to ask for a one-time postponement of the matter.

Several commissioners, citing months of political and legal wrangling over the issue, expressed anger at the maneuver and warned that unless county officials work with Malibu’s future leaders to settle the sewer dispute the coastal panel will probably not approve the project.

“I think it should be said that the county’s tactics in delaying this matter at the 11th hour are reprehensible and make a mockery of the entire system,” Commissioner Lily Cervantes said.

By choosing April as the time to consider the matter, the commission gave a clear signal in favor of Malibu’s future leaders, who are pushing to achieve cityhood by March 28, the date stipulated by the Board of Supervisors when it obeyed a court order to allow last June’s incorporation election.

“The April date puts the county’s feet to the fire to expose whether or not they’re going to try to stall (cityhood) further before we come back before the commission,” Councilman-elect Mike Caggiano said. “In that sense, it works in our favor.”

County officials have hinted that they may try to delay cityhood until 1992 if they continue to be stymied in their efforts to build the sewer, which they insist is needed for environmental reasons. Opponents contend that the sewer system is intended to open the Malibu coast to widespread development.

Cityhood boosters, thwarted by former Gov. George Deukmejian’s veto of a measure last year that would have nullified the delay, have pushed a new measure in the state Legislature that they hope will be ready for Gov. Pete Wilson’s signature next month.

In addition, the direction of the five county supervisors may be about to change on the issue.

All four major candidates in the Jan. 22 election to replace retiring Supervisor Pete Schabarum, a cityhood foe, have said they would vote for Malibu to become a city immediately. Last month, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said that he would accede to the wishes of Supervisor Ed Edelman, whose new district boundaries now include Malibu, on the matter. Edelman was the lone supervisor who opposed the cityhood delay.

In a testy exchange at Thursday’s hearing, Coastal Commissioner Madelyn Glickfeld, who lives in Malibu, tried to get one of the county’s top lawyers to say whether the county intends to try to delay cityhood beyond March 28 in its bid to pursue the sewer.

But assistant county counsel Bill Pellman was noncommittal, saying, “I cannot say with certainty.”

“Does that mean that the (March 28) date is not a certain date?” Glickfeld asked.

“That date was the last date the Board of Supervisors selected for cityhood,” Pellman said. “The board still has the discretion to set another date depending on the facts that are put forward at that time.”

BACKGROUND The county’s longtime effort to build a regional sewer system ignited an incorporation effort that resulted in 84% of Malibu voters approving cityhood last June. But county officials have used legal maneuvers to delay the actual incorporation while they attempt to start work on the sewer before a new Malibu government has the chance to block it. In approving Malibu’s cityhood bid in 1989, the Local Agency Formation Commission stipulated that the county would have jurisdiction over the sewer for up to 10 years after incorporation. But sewer opponents, and even some members of LAFCO, say the condition may be illegal.