MALIBU : Court Rejects Anti-Erosion Tax District

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has sided with the city’s effort to dissolve a special taxing district comprising homeowners who want to build bulwarks against beach erosion.

The Feb. 3 ruling upholds Malibu’s right to order the dissolution of the Geologic Hazard Abatement District. The district was created with the City Council’s support in October, 1991, to remove erosion-control structures called groins from Las Tunas Beach after two joggers injured themselves on the metal bulwarks and sued the state.

Most of the 92 Las Tunas Beach homeowners agreed that the deteriorated structures, which run from the beach into the surf, were hazardous and should be removed.

Some of the homeowners have argued that the groins are still effective and should remain, but a majority of them wanted some kind of protection from erosion. To that end, the district hired a coastal engineering firm whose survey concluded that area erosion warranted construction of new bulwarks.

The city disagreed, citing a city-hired engineering firm’s review that concluded the beach had not eroded significantly since the groins began breaking apart years ago. Subsequently, the City Council ordered the district to dissolve itself. The district refused, filing a court complaint in April seeking an injunction to restrain Malibu from exercising jurisdiction over the district.

“The City Council tried to forge a compromise between homeowners who opposed the groins at Las Tunas Beach and those who supported such a project,” said City Atty. Christi Hogin. “The council formed (the district) but on the condition that further studies be conducted before any elaborate project be undertaken. The (district’s) board turned its back on the deal.”

The recent court action is only the latest in a 15-year legal tangle involving the state of California, the 92 homeowners, 30 lawyers and 12 insurance companies. The 13 hazardous groins, which vary in length from 80 to 455 feet and were constructed in 1929 by the Title Insurance and Trust Co., now Ticor, are still standing--much to the chagrin of state officials.

In 1982, the state sued Ticor and the landowners, asking them to remove the groins. In 1989, the three parties reached an agreement in which Ticor paid $2.5 million and other insurance companies contributed $400,000 to build eight new bulwarks. The state agreed to remove five of the groins, a project now under way. The agreement made the property owners responsible for tearing down the remaining eight groins.

The state went to court in January, asking the court to enforce the settlement agreement. In March, the landholders must present to the court a report on their progress to remove the groins.