[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS -WATER QUALITY-1/29/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

January 29, 2009

 

4. Water Quality –

 

 

Enviro groups protest Legacy Park EIR

Malibu Times – 1/28/09

By Olivia Damavandi / Staff Writer

The Planning Commission approved a revised final environmental impact report for Legacy Park at a special meeting that took place last week. Environmental groups Heal the Bay, Santa Monica Baykeeper and the Surfrider Foundation say the report is inadequate, though the park's final design phase is scheduled to begin early this year.

A bone of contention for the environmental groups is that the Legacy Park plan does not address wastewater treatment, having only a plan for a stormwater treatment facility, and that the EIR, they say, is inadequate. City officials say the EIR meets all required standards, and that wastewater treatment will be addressed in the future.

Kirsten James, director of water quality at Heal the Bay, said Legacy Park's EIR is inadequate for a number of reasons, mainly because environmental concerns have been left unaddressed.

"The EIR didn't appropriately look at cumulative impacts of projects surrounding it," James said, adding that impacts from upcoming projects such as La Paz need to be evaluated and included.

"One of the basic responses from the city is that cumulative impacts are being evaluated in a groundwater monitoring study, but that study hasn't been released or finished," James said. "It's kind of like putting the cart before the horse."

James said Legacy Park was initially going to be a dual project that provided stormwater and wastewater treatment, and called the elimination of wastewater treatment "a big disappointment" and "a major shortcoming."

Nancy Hastings, Southern California field coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation, also said the revised final EIR is inadequate and urged the Planning Commission to delay the project until an acceptable final EIR is passed. Hastings urged the city to create a solution for stormwater and wastewater treatment that deals with septic tanks, to build a wastewater facility at Legacy Park by 2011 and to impose a moratorium on all future development in the area until all the aforementioned items are complete.

EIR details

The revised final EIR states Legacy Park will improve the effectiveness of the current stormwater facility on Civic Center Way by increasing bacterial TMDL (total maximum daily loads) compliance to 100 percent. The park's other benefits, the EIR states, include the creation of important natural habitats and the recycling of nearly all effluent from the Lumber Yard mall.

The current stormwater facility located at Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road consists of a vessel that collects up to three cubic feet of stormwater runoff per second, treats it and discharges it into Malibu Lagoon. Legacy Park's future stormwater operation system will be able to treat 10 times the current amount.

The stormwater facility utilizes a box covert, about 6 feet wide and 9 feet deep located underneath Civic Center Way, owned and maintained by Los Angeles County Flood Control, that intercepts stormwater runoff from more than 330 acres before it could drain into Malibu Creek, City Manager Jim Thorsen explained.

Currently, if a large amount of rain occurs, the facility would not be able to treat all the stormwater.

In the future, the stormwater will be diverted to a pond on Legacy Park, which will be able to store up to 2.6 million gallons, and then sent to the facility, which will be able treat 1,400 gallons per minute. The treated water will either be discharged into Malibu Creek within TMDL limits or stowed in a storage pond to irrigate Legacy Park or to be reused in times of drought. The revised final EIR states that stormwater will not impact groundwater at Legacy Park because the storage pond is lined to prevent percolation from its bottom.

The park will be comprised of three types of habitats: coastal prairies and coastal bluff vegetation, riparian/wetland (vernal pools, freshwater marshes) and Southern California native woodlands. The habitats are intended fulfill the ecological goals of providing sustainability, increasing and supporting regional biodiversity, regionally rare and wetland habitats, reinstating original habitats and connecting to other habitats.

Also included in Legacy Park's revised final EIR is the development of a Linear Park on a median to be located on the north side of Civic Center Way. This Linear Park would include improvements to collect stormwater and convey it to the Legacy Park site, the city's Senior Planner Stephanie Danner said in an e-mail to The Malibu Times on Tuesday.

The Linear Park will also feature a pedestrian path network to link neighboring properties and the Civic Center. As future portions of the pedestrian trail are developed as part of separate projects, Danner said, the Linear Park would eventually serve to link the Civic Center area to Malibu Pier.

"As it relates to the Legacy Park project, the development of the Linear Park element will be within the city's existing easements," Danner wrote. "However, property owners located to the north of Civic Center Way will be encouraged to integrate their landscaping with the Linear Park as part of the development permit process for those currently undeveloped properties."

Civic Center Way parking medians concern community groups

The commission last Wednesday addressed the implementation of parking medians on Civic Center Way between Cross Creek Road and Webb Way for aesthetic enhancement.

The medians were opposed by the majority of speakers at the meeting including representatives from the Kiwanis Club, Optimist Club and Chamber of Commerce.

Some speakers at the meeting said the medians would hinder parking egress and slow down traffic. Others said the medians would obstruct emergency vehicles and reduce the speed at which they could reach their destinations.

Ann Payne of the Malibu Optimist Club said that though the medians would be aesthetically pleasing, they would preclude the use of public property.

Rebekah Evans, president and CEO of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce, voiced concern that the medians would curtail the amount of parking necessary for the Malibu Arts Festival, an annual event put on by the chamber during the last weekend of July.

The next Planning Commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 at City Hall.#

http://www.malibutimes.com/articles/2009/01/28/news/news1.txt

 

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