Malibu Municipal Code § 4.3 Public Services

The Los Angeles County Fire Department provides fire protection service to the City of Malibu. Currently, four stations (Nos. 70, 71, 88 and 99) directly serve the City, but all Los Angeles County Fire Department resources are available to serve the City.

The adequacy of fire protection services is assessed according to standards of response distance from a fire station. The distance standards vary according to the type and intensity of residences (see Table 4-4). Table 4-4 summarizes the equipment and staff resources at each station. As shown, there are a total of seven engine companies which are staffed with firefighters in and near the City of Malibu during each shift.

In the event of a major fire, additional equipment is kept in reserve at most of the stations to be used by off-duty firefighters. The Ventura County Fire Department's staff indirectly provides fire protection services to the Santa Monica Mountains by protection and control of fires on adjacent lands. The United States Park Service also provides additional fire protection.

The City of Malibu is served by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. The sheriff operates a station in the Lost Hills area north of the City; the County recently closed their station in the Civic Center. Police protection in the City is hampered by the length of the City and its relatively low density. The secluded orientations of many residential neighborhoods provide little or no opportunity for regular visual inspection from major arterial roadways. Average response time is within normal range because the Lost Hills station is fully staffed.

The elementary schools and high school district in Malibu are served by the joint Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, an independent agency governed by a Board of Trustees. Enrollment has increased substantially since 1980. The classrooms in Malibu are nearing capacity due to population increases. There are two elementary schools in Malibu run by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District: Cabrillo Elementary and Webster Elementary. Both schools are now experiencing increasing levels of enrollment. During the 1995 school year both schools experienced an increase of approximately 30 students. Some of this increase is from students who do not live in Malibu. The schools each accept students from other districts if their parents work or have some type of child care arrangements in Malibu. Existing and proposed student enrollment is listed in Tables 4-6 and 4-7. A third elementary school on Point Dume was closed in the 1980s due to lack of students and is now operated as a community center. This site is still owned by the school district.

Table 4-4 FIRE STATIONS SERVING MALIBU

Table 4-5 DESIRED FIRE RESPONSE DISTANCE FOR RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Table 4-6 CABRILLO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT ENROLLMENT 1991—1995

Table 4-7 WEBSTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT ENROLLMENT 1991—1995

Table 4-8 MALIBU HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ENROLLMENT 1991—1995

High School

Malibu High School is located at 30215 Morning View Drive, adjacent to Cabrillo Elementary and just northwest of Point Dume. The school currently serves grades 6 through 9 and will continue to add a grade for the next three years resulting in the service of grades 6 through 12 by the year 1995. The school site is approximately 25.9 acres with 20 of those acres donated for the Malibu Equestrian Center by the Malibu/Santa Monica Unified School District. An additional 22 acres declared as surplus has been given to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for first right of refusal. Existing and proposed student enrollment is listed in Table 4-8.

The City of Malibu uses Santa Monica Hospital as the base hospital for emergency care for residents in Malibu. Santa Monica Hospital is located at 1250 16th Street in the City of Santa Monica—a distance of between 4.5 and over 25 miles from Malibu, depending upon from where in Malibu the distance is measured. Travel to the hospital can take as much as 40 minutes at other than peak hours. Nearby hospitals used when Santa Monica Hospital emergency facilities are at full capacity are the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center located at 10833 Le Conte Avenue in Los Angeles, and Westlake Hospital located at 4415 South Lakeview Canyon Road, Westlake Village. Helicopters are often used during peak periods to reduce travel times. The adequacy of hospital services is difficult to determine due to the different range of services offered.

The Malibu Library is a branch of the Los Angeles County library system and is located at 23519 Civic Center Way. It is the only library facility serving the City of Malibu. The Malibu Library provides adult and juvenile reference services and materials; audiovisual materials, including compact discs, VHS videocassettes and Listen for Pleasure audiocassettes; Reader's Advisory. The Malibu Library serves a population of 20,282 and 7,506 housing units in and around the City. The library is 16,530 square feet and holds over 64,000 books. The library maintains a cooperative lending relationship with County library in Los Angeles through the South State Cooperative Library System.

The Southern California Edison Company (SCE) provides electricity from three primary stations and three secondary stations. The Southern California Gas Company provides natural gas and General Telephone provides telephone service. Cable television is an information and entertainment source for residents of most areas of the City. Presently, Falcon Cable services the Malibu area.

Water is supplied to the City of Malibu by County Waterworks District No. 29 from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The MWD obtains its water from the State Water Project and the Colorado River. Wholesalers of this water in the Malibu/Santa Monica Mountains area are the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and the West Basin Municipal Water District. These wholesalers distribute to three retailers which include the Los Angeles County Waterworks District No. 29, Silvas Park Mutual Water Company, and Las Virgenes Metro Water District.

Many of the City's water mains and tanks have been identified by the City and by Waterworks District No. 29 as severely undersized. District No. 29 estimates it may cost $100,000,000 to upgrade the City's water system to current minimum standards.

There are also a number of private wells that supply water within the City. However, the utilization of wells as a source of potable water has steadily declined since 1965, when water became available through the MWD. Although the amount of water supplied by these wells is now considered to be insignificant, they are sources of inexpensive water to agricultural and other interests located away from piped water service (Incorporation of Malibu EIR, 1989).

Municipal sewer service is available only up to the far eastern end of the City. There is no municipal sewer in Malibu. There are five small, package sewage treatment plants within the city: the Latigo Bay Shores, Point Dume, Trancas Canyon, Malibu Mesa and Maison de Ville. Hughes Research Lab operates their own facilities and Pepperdine University is served by the Malibu Mesa Plant. These plants are described in detail in the Philip Williams & Associates Ltd. and Peter Warshall and Associates report of March 1992 entitled "The Malibu Wastewater Management Study."

Most wastewater is treated on-site. Improperly maintained septic systems have caused alleged health and safety problems, but, with adequate area for leaching fields or regular disposal, can be safely operated in almost all areas of the City. The "Malibu Wastewater Management Study" recommends programs for ensuring that septic systems are properly engineered, installed and maintained. Details of the hazards associated with the systems are described in the Background Report to the Safety Element.

Solid waste disposal in Malibu is presently handled by four private hauling companies, one of which is under contract to service the Los Angeles County/Malibu Garbage Disposal District. All four haulers deliver solid waste to the Calabasas Landfill. The Calabasas Landfill is owned and operated by the Los Angeles County Sanitation District and services Malibu as one of many regional sources. The landfill is presently scheduled for closure in 2015 and as of 1990, has a remaining capacity of 12 million tons of waste yielding a projection that the landfill will accommodate an average 500,000 tons of waste each year during that period. Malibu contributes less that 10% of that amount. Based on the 1992 Preliminary Draft Source Reduction and Recycling Element for the City of Malibu, there were 38,750 tons of waste disposed from Malibu residents and businesses in 1991.