Malibu Seeks Beach Upkeep Funds : Recreation: City may turn to private businesses or the state. The plan is part of a deal whereby the county would pay $2.9 million to renovate the deteriorated pier.

Malibu officials are exploring ways to raise $125,000 a year for maintenance of Surfrider Beach as part of a deal under which the city would receive $2.9 million in county funds for renovation of the Malibu Pier.

The Malibu City Council last month rejected a proposal by former County Supervisor Ed Edelman to use city funds to cover the yearly $125,000 maintenance cost. Malibu city staff was subsequently directed to initiate negotiations with the state and county to seek alternative sources for the funds. The council plans to revisit the issue in January.

“We are going to do everything we can do to find a way to get that $3 million to the pier,” said Mayor Jeffrey W. Kramer. “It is one of our most visible landmarks. We do know that we can’t take money from our ($7 million) General Fund.”

Among the alternatives under consideration are soliciting the business community for the maintenance cost or attempting to raise the amount through private donations, Kramer said. Another possibility is forging a deal with the state to channel a percentage of the pier’s revenues from concessionaires and parking to cover beach maintenance.

“The details are still being worked out,” said Malibu City Manager David N. Carmany. “It’s like a forward pass in football; there are a number of potential different outcomes. Word I hear from my colleagues in other cities is that piers cost money, they don’t make money.”

The Malibu Township Council, a community group that spearheaded Malibu’s cityhood movement more than three years ago, has advocated culling the money from rents generated by businesses on the state-owned pier. The group also has proposed creating a nonprofit organization to raise funds to maintain the dilapidated pier and establish a marine museum.

Current stores on the pier are a bait-and-tackle shop, a sport-fishing business and Alice’s Restaurant. The state tried to evict Alice’s Restaurant, a Malibu dining institution since 1972 and the pier’s main concessionaire, for unpaid back rent, but the restaurant failed to vacate. The state, in turn, sued Japedemy Inc., the restaurant’s owner. A trial is scheduled for Jan. 20.

Bob Yuro, a co-owner of the restaurant, has claimed in the past that he has withheld rent because the state reneged on a promise to apply rents to renovate the pier.

The agreement to provide $2.9 million to renovate the pier was part of a complicated deal brokered by Edelman during his final County Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 1. Edelman ushered through three proposals, estimated at more than $7 million, to improve Westside beaches, all within his Third District.

Proposition A funds, approved by voters two years ago for the improvement of county parks and open spaces, will be used to pay for the projects.

Of the remaining funds, an estimated $1.5 million will go for construction and repair of facilities at Venice Beach, and about $3 million will be used for renovation and construction of facilities at Zuma Beach.

But because the Malibu Pier is owned by the state, Edelman had to find a legal way to get around a requirement that county funds be spent only on county projects.

Edelman proposed a deal in which the state would lease the 89-year-old pier to the county, and the pier would be maintained by the city of Malibu.