Planning Panel Slated to Rehear La Paz Projects

• Proposals Set to Be Aired Next Week

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu Planning Commission is scheduled once again to hear two proposed plans for the La Paz commercial development in the Civic Center next week on Aug. 5.
The two separate projects, one including a development agreement that calls for a donation of a City Hall, are tentatively scheduled to be heard by the city council on Sept. 22. The development agreement project, if approved by the council, will require review and approval by the California Coastal Commission.
Revised plans for a wastewater treatment system that utilizes reuse is the key new feature to be considered by municipal officials.
A press release issued by Schmitz and Associates, the land use consulting firm spearheading the permit process, boasts the new system is a no net discharge system, meaning 100 percent of the wastewater is reused.
Treated wastewater will be used entirely for in-building toilet flushing and then used for landscape irrigation. All of the project’s wastewater will be recycled and reused.
That will result in no rise in groundwater levels and no groundwater mounding onsite or offsite to adjacent properties, according to the press release, which further states that the system will produce an annual savings of over 3,000,000 gallons of water.
The size of the projects remains the same, as does the development agreement. Of the seven buildings proposed for one parcel, five are strictly retail, while two of the buildings are both retail and office and both have 175-seat restaurants. The four buildings slated for another parcel would be a combination of office and retail. Another parcel would consist of a 20,000-square-foot city hall. The total amount of retail space would be 69,502 square feet with 62,929 square feet of office space.
The alternative plan that does not include a city hall feature and would be smaller, would include two restaurants of 175 seats each and be mostly retail space. The office space proposed under the alternative plan is 29,655 square feet. The retail space would remain at 69,502 square feet.
Last Jan., the planning commission held a public hearing and recommended that the council approve the smaller project that did not include a development agreement.
The city council was supposed to hear the matter on March 24, but that hearing was continued until May 12. On April 3, the applicant submitted a new wastewater management system.
“Since the planning commission did not have the opportunity to provide a recommendation on the projects with the revised wastewater systems or the updated [Environmental Impact Report], staff determined that the project should return to the planning commission so that the recommendation would be based on the most accurate information available,” wrote a staff planner.
The wastewater report indicates that, if the larger project is approved, the proposed storage tank requirement for use of all recycled water is 800,000 gallons. The alternative option would require a 400,000-gallon storage tank.
The entire wastewater volume that results after in-building reuse will be needed for landscape irrigation. The site’s irrigation water demand will require extra water in addition to treated effluent. “This additional water demand will be provided by potable water or extracting groundwater,” the report states.