The Malibu City Council pushed back on a proposed agreement with state water regulators on June 8, directing staff to redraw a wastewater map so that some longtime Civic Center-area property owners are not forced into early septic upgrades unless the final phase of the city's sewer project is actually required.
The council reviewed but did not approve a revised memorandum of understanding between the city and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board governing Phase 2 of the Civic Center Water Treatment Facility, a yearslong effort to move properties off septic systems and onto a centralized sewer to clean up Malibu Lagoon.
Under a 2009 regional board resolution later folded into the state Basin Plan, Malibu must transition Civic Center properties from onsite septic systems to the treatment plant. Phase 1 was completed in 2018. Phase 2, originally due in 2024, stalled after the city discovered significant Native American cultural resources in 2022 along a planned pipeline route through the Serra Retreat neighborhood.
The discovery forced the city and the water board to abandon that alignment, redraw project boundaries and extend the schedule. Assistant Public Works Director Tatiana Holden, who presented the update, said the revised plan pulls Serra Retreat out of the Phase 2 construction path and instead calls for a feasibility study of alternatives such as advanced onsite treatment systems or package treatment plants. Properties along Malibu Road were shifted into Phase 2, while Phase 3 was reorganized into three sections: Area I, Area II and Serra Retreat. The Franklin Fire in December 2024 and the Palisades Fire in January 2025 added further delay, the staff report said.
Much of the council's discussion centered on fairness. Members objected that bundling certain Sweetwater Mesa properties — long part of Phase 3 — into the new Serra Retreat group would require them to take interim nitrogen- and bacteria-reduction steps even if Phase 3 is never triggered.
"That seems unfair," Mayor Bruce Silverstein said, asking staff to "move the border" so the original Phase 3 parcels stay in "pure phase three." Councilmember Doug Stewart proposed splitting the zone into "area three and area four," with Area 4 covering the original Phase 3 properties and exempt from the interim requirement unless the sewer expansion is ordered.
Assistant City Manager Rob DuBoux said the properties had been grouped together "purely for efficiency," because a sewer line likely could never be built through the culturally sensitive area regardless. He and a Regional Water Board representative agreed to take the council's request back to the agency, though the representative said the change would require staff to reconvene a stakeholder group and "check the math" on the project's triggers, and might not be ready in time for the board's planned July review.
The council also moved to tighten the language that determines whether Phase 3 proceeds at all. Phase 3 connections are required only if water quality monitoring shows that Phases 1 and 2 achieved targeted bacteria and nitrogen reductions in Malibu Lagoon and at the beach. If those targets are not met, the remaining septic systems would be presumed not to be the cause. Staff said a 2025 draft had mistakenly reversed that trigger, and the 2026 revision restores the original framework.
Silverstein said the document spelled out when Phase 3 is required but not when it is not. He asked that a sentence be added: "In the absence of such determination, the city shall not be required to proceed with phase three." DuBoux called it "a very good comment" and said it would be raised with the regional board.
Council members noted the science linking septic systems to the pollution has been disputed for nearly two decades but said the city, bound by the agreement, cannot relitigate it.
The water board representative said the agency still expects Phase 3 will be needed, citing studies tying the septic systems to bacteria and nitrogen in the lagoon.
The regional board is scheduled to release the MOU for public comment in July and hold a hearing July 23. If approved, the amendment would return to the City Council on Aug. 24. Under the revised timeline, Phase 2 construction would run from 2029 to 2031, with Phase 3 completed by 2035 if required. Staff said additional money will be needed to redesign Phase 2 and will be requested when the amendment returns.