The Malibu City Council took a first step Monday toward streamlining a key regulatory hurdle for homeowners seeking to rebuild in the wake of the January 2025 Palisades Fire, advancing an ordinance that would allow a city official — rather than the full council — to approve variances for protective seawalls along the fire-ravaged coastline.
The council voted 5-0 to introduce Ordinance No. 533 on first reading, direct staff to schedule a second reading for March 9, and direct staff to prepare a companion urgency ordinance for adoption at the same meeting. Councilmember Marianne Riggins also pushed successfully for staff to prepare an emergency version of the ordinance that, if adopted alongside the standard measure, would take effect immediately rather than after the standard 30-day waiting period. "There are properties waiting right now that would like to start construction, and they can't, because they still have to wait the 40 or 50 days for this to even become law," Riggins said.
The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck facing more than 300 beachfront properties destroyed or damaged in the fire. Under federal flood insurance rules, homes in coastal high-hazard flood zones — designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as "VE" zones — must be elevated, with the space beneath kept clear to allow ocean water to flow freely. That requirement effectively prohibits the installation of septic systems under those structures unless a formal variance is granted.
For Palisades Fire victims rebuilding on the beach, many have no other location on their lots to place a required septic system. The solution — building a protective seawall around an under-home septic tank — itself constitutes an obstruction under FEMA rules, triggering the need for a variance.
Under the city's existing process, each variance requires a public hearing before the full City Council, a time-intensive process that city officials said threatens to delay rebuilding for dozens of property owners already waiting to break ground.
The proposed ordinance delegates authority to grant those variances to the Public Works Director, acting as the city's designated Floodplain Administrator. Decisions by the director could still be appealed to the City Council.
Interim City Manager Rob DuBoux, who said he helped initiate the effort after the fire, framed the change as a practical fix developed in close coordination with federal regulators. "We're not changing the goal post," DuBoux told the council. "We're actually shortening the field."
DuBoux said city staff held extensive meetings with FEMA representatives to develop the amended procedures and that the agency has reviewed and expressed support for the proposed changes.
Community Development Director Yolanda Bundy said approximately 320 beachfront properties are affected, and that several property owners are already waiting on the public works sign-off this ordinance would enable. "There's several property owners that are expecting this," Bundy said.
The discussion was not without friction. Mayor Bruce Silverstein pressed staff repeatedly on the federal regulatory basis for requiring a variance in the first place, questioning whether the city could simply pass a blanket ordinance granting variances to all qualifying beachfront properties at once rather than processing them individually. Staff said FEMA's regulations require a case-by-case technical review of each proposed seawall before a variance can be issued.
A member of the public, Dean Winner, briefly challenged during public comment whether a variance was required at all under FEMA rules, a claim staff disputed. Silverstein asked that the specific federal regulatory provisions be identified in writing before the council's second vote.
The urgency of the measure is underscored by the financial stakes for property owners. According to background materials prepared for the meeting, building a private seawall and septic system in the coastal floodplain can cost between $625,000 and $1.525 million per lot.
City officials view the ordinance as a bridge solution. The longer-term fix, they say, is the Pacific Coast Highway Wastewater Project — a proposed $125 million, 5.5-mile sewer collection system that would connect 461 waterfront properties to Los Angeles' Hyperion treatment plant, eliminating the need for on-site septic systems and their protective seawalls entirely. That project is estimated to cost property owners approximately $300,000 each in assessments — significantly less than building private infrastructure — and would avoid the sand erosion and damage to surf breaks associated with constructing miles of new seawalls along the coast.
The sewer project, however, is roughly six years from completion, making the streamlined variance process a critical near-term tool for fire victims trying to rebuild their homes.
The second reading of Ordinance No. 533 and a vote on a companion urgency ordinance are scheduled for the March 9 City Council meeting.