Rambla Vista Slide Shows New Activity

• City Officials Say They Are Keeping Watchful Eye on Bulge •

BY BILL KOENEKER

A Malibu city official said they are keeping a cautious eye on what appears to be renewed slide activity above Rambla Vista Road.
“It is moving a little bit,” said Richard Calvin, who is the municipality’s public works superintendent. “It is an ongoing problem.”
Calvin said the slide has been covered to keep out the rains, but the winds have ripped up the plastic over the last several weeks and some water may have seeped into the slide plane.
The short-term plan calls for keeping water out of the slide area. “Over the last rain events there might have been some saturation. It is bulging,” Calvin acknowledged.
For the long-term, according to the public works spokesperson, a grading plan has been submitted. “I have not seen it yet, but the engineers have a plan,” he added.
The slide has been an ongoing problem for years while the city and the property owners worked out a solution for the moving slide, much of which is on private property.
Over a year ago, the city completed work on a $1.4 million emergency fix to keep the toe of the slide from moving onto Rambla Vista.
A debris wall was built and existing mud and debris were removed.
During construction in 2006, the slide mass began to move due to over saturated soil above the original work zone. City officials were told that it would be necessary to extend the debris wall by about 80 feet to protect public facilities.