Las Tunas Beach Barriers to Be Rebuilt : Settlement: The city approves a plan that allows homeowners to replace the dilapidated groins.

The Malibu City Council voted this week to allow about 90 property owners on Las Tunas Beach to move forward with plans that will get rid of and rebuild their dilapidated sea-barriers.

The council voted to form a Geological Hazard Abatement District, governed by a board of five homeowners, whose only purpose will be to remove one of the eight barriers.

The reinforced concrete barriers, or groins, were built about 60 years ago to prevent further erosion of the beach. They were built by Title Insurance & Trust Co. (now Ticor) to protect the land it owned at the time. Over the years, much of the concrete has crumbled, exposing the sharp, twisted, steel reinforcing bars.

In the mid-1980s, the state sued Ticor and the homeowners in an effort to force them to fix the groins and assume future liability for them. The settlement called for the establishment of the hazard abatement district, whose duty it would be to replace the groins with eight “rubber mound barriers.”

Craig Dummit, attorney for the Las Tunas property owners who signed the settlement, says the new groins will be the same dimensions as the old groins, except in width.

The original groins were built to create a beach where one did not exist, and Las Tunas Beach has had chronic erosion problems from the start. The ocean comes right to the homes at the beach’s western end.

The new groins are intended to prevent further erosion. Once they are built, the settlement calls for trucking in 80,000 to 100,000 cubic yards of sand--enough to widen the beach 15 to 25 feet.

The cost of the job is estimated at $3.05 million. Ticor will put in $2.15 million, the homeowners’ insurance companies will put in $400,000 and the rest will be assessed to the property owners at an estimated cost of $30,000 to $40,000 a parcel.

There was heated debate about formation of an assessment district.

About 24% of the residents don’t want an assessment or oppose the groins because of concern about potential liability.

According to Dummit, liability should not be a worry.

“If we form a (Geological Hazard Abatement District), then we are only liable for injuries on the groins themselves,” Dummit said, adding that fencing in the groins could take care of the problem.

The abatement district created Tuesday has the task of removing only the most dangerous groin.

Under a compromise between the majority homeowners and the dissenters negotiated by Mayor Larry Wan, the abatement district board will hire an engineer to assess the situation and determine if there are alternatives to building new groins. After that, an assessment district can be formed and the work will proceed.

The council voted 3 to 2 to set up the abatement district and appoint five homeowners to the board for six-month terms.

Council members Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn dissented.

“Costs keep changing from document to document,” Keller said.