Water Board Approves Lumberyard Mall Permit

• New Opening Date for Development on City Property Is Now Early February

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Regional Water Quality Control Board last week approved a wastewater discharge permit sought by the City of Malibu and the developer of the Malibu lumberyard shopping center on city-owned land.
That meant several city officials, including City Manager Jim Thorsen, Building Department head Vic Peterson and others, missed the City Hall holiday open house when the board meeting went on until 7 p.m.
“We are obviously delighted with the approval of the permit and the deliberations of the board,” said Fiona Hutton, a public relations specialist for Richard Weintraub, who holds the site lease and is developing the commercial center.
The current estimate for the opening date of the shopping center is now the first week of February, according to Hutton.
Observers at last week’s RWQCB meeting said the approval was no “slam-dunk,” if the hours the commissioners took asking questions and deliberating on the tentative order was any indication of the panelists’ leanings on the matter.
There were some changes to the original order, including setting a limit on phosphorus, limiting the length of the permit to three years instead of five, requiring immediate notification of the RWQCB if nutrient limits are exceeded and mandating the hook- up of the center to a centralized treatment plant in the Civic Center area within six months of when such a plant would become operational.
One pivotal environmental group that did not oppose the permit was Heal the Bay, which had previously called for halting any more permits until the city had legally committed to a centralized plant in the Civic Center.
Apparently language added to the conditions of the permit that mandate the shopping center’s hook-up to a centralized plant built for the Civic Center mollified critics. Hutton said they also were informed that language in the city’s lease also mandates such a requirement.
The water board’s 33-page order that received staff recommendation for approval, spells out the requirements and conditions for the wastewater discharge permit, as well as the water reclamation requirements for a system that will utilize a portion of the city’s Legacy Park.
The city and the center developer, operating in tandem, successfully sought a permit for discharging treated effluent through a leachfield in Legacy Park.
This includes pipelines and a pumping system for recycled and reclaimed water for irrigation in Legacy Park, and diverting a portion of influent to holding tanks for emergency discharge.