MALIBU — Plans for a new sewer system in the Civic Center continued moving through the pipeline this week as the City Council on Monday approved a resolution to begin selling up to $6.5 million in bonds to help fund plans for the waste treatment facility.
Under the terms of an agreement with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board in 2011, the city of Malibu must build a centralized wastewater treatment system in the Civic Center by November 2015.
After interest, administrative fees and a $1 million reimbursement to city coffers are subtracted, the bonds should provide $4 million at the beginning of February to be used as funding for significant legwork on the wastewater treatment facility plans, according to the city staff report on the item.
"Of the $4 million left, it'll go to the consultant that will complete all the design work, also the [environmental impact report], obtaining permits, testing and drilling," said City Manager Jim Thorsen.
City Hall has spent $2.5 million so far on the project since the prohibition went into effect. After getting $1 million from these bonds back, city officials expect to get $1.5 million more when an assessment district is formed in 2015 for commercial property owners in the area.
Plans to build the wastewater treatment facility have fallen eight months behind, according to Thorsen. The county water board outlined a schedule of "milestones" for the city to follow in its implementation of the treatment system. The EIR was supposed to be completed by March, but Thorsen estimates it won't be done until October.
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This story first appeared in the Malibu Times.
