Malibu Decries Pepperdine Role in Sewer Bill Defeat

Malibu community leaders are furious at Pepperdine University officials for helping to engineer the defeat of a Senate bill that would have blocked Los Angeles County from building a sewer in the beachside town before residents vote on incorporation.

Cityhood advocates and aides of Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), author of SB 389, said they were stunned when they discovered that much of the opposition to the bill had been generated by Pepperdine during the week before the vote. The bill had received only token opposition before it reached the Assembly last week.

‘It’s Inexcusable’

The bill, which was brought up for reconsideration late Tuesday, was defeated, 36 to 30.

Pepperdine’s action was particularly upsetting to residents because the university won’t be included in the proposed city, the result of a successful lobbying campaign waged recently by university administrators to remove the campus from the proposed city.

“It’s inexcusable, they ought to be ashamed of themselves,” said Leon Cooper, vice president of the Malibu Township Council. “They’re always dealing with the county or Sacramento but never with their own neighbors. Yet unfortunately, everything that Pepperdine does has a vital impact on the community. I’m really disgusted with these people.”

Pepperdine officials denied lobbying against the bill. Andrew Benton, university vice president for administration, said Pepperdine officials never called any of the legislators who opposed the bill. Instead, Benton said, the legislators called Pepperdine.

“Though the university has not sent anyone to the state Capitol nor asked its Sacramento consultant to become involved, when asked for an opinion on the proposed measure we have expressed our view,” Benton said in a prepared statement. “We do not believe SB 389 is a bill that will benefit the community in the manner intended by the author.”

Sacramento legislative aides and community leaders were incredulous when told that members of the Assembly had sought Pepperdine’s opinion on the bill during the pressure-packed last week of the legislative session.

‘Brute Power’

“I was not a personal witness, but I know the legislative process, and I know it doesn’t work that way,” said Madelyn Glickfeld, a California Coastal Commission member who lives in Malibu. “When it comes to an issue that Pepperdine thinks is going to affect the university, they are not opposed to using brute power to get what they want and then try and soften the rough edges later. But I think resentment about what they have done is going to last a long time.”

Joe Gonsalves, the veteran Capitol lobbyist hired by the Malibu Township Council to persuade legislators to support the bill, said he was told by a few lawmakers that they would vote for Hart’s measure, “if I could get Pepperdine off the bill.” Assemblyman Frank Hill (R-Whittier), a Pepperdine graduate, led the fight against the bill. Hill could not be reached for comment.

Although Pepperdine would not be included in the proposed city of Malibu, plans for a $34-million sewer system that would ease the university’s sewage capacity problems call for the sewer to be located inside the city boundaries. Without an expanded sewer system, the university would not be able to proceed with nearly $100 million in planned development.

At a forum on the proposed sewer system Monday night, Benton disclosed that the university’s long-range plans call for doubling the university’s 2,200-student population within 15 years. Cityhood backers were already upset that students would be driving through the proposed city every day and contributing to the heavy traffic on Pacific Coast Highway without the city receiving any fees from the campus.

Wrest Control

Incorporation advocates wanted to wrest control over sewers from Los Angeles County and empower a new city council to decide future waste-water issues in the coastal area.

Cityhood backers said they had hoped Pepperdine officials would remove themselves from involvement in the incorporation campaign once the university was removed from the proposed city boundaries by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) last month. They also criticized the private, conservative university for trying to cloak its stance on the bill and the cityhood election, which may be held as early as March.

“What’s happened in the last week has been incredible,” said Mike Caggiano, a member of the Malibu Committee for Incorporation. “It’s seems like Pepperdine wants to flee Malibu, but they want to use the community as a forwarding address for their sewage. And they don’t want to share the delivery costs.”

Drew Liebert, Hart’s legislative aide, said he was surprised when he discovered that Pepperdine was the source of the opposition to the bill. Los Angeles County officials also lobbied heavily against the bill’s passage, making numerous phone calls to legislators over the weekend.

Cease-Fire Attempt

“Since LAFCO removed Pepperdine from the city, we assumed that Pepperdine would not care (about the bill) any longer,” Liebert said. “But when I talked to Benton, he told me that he believed that if Malibu incorporates, the city would be very anti-sewer and anti-development. But the bill basically was an attempt to call a cease-fire in the battle over sewers with the county.”

The county has tried for 20 years to place a regional sewer in Malibu. Last October, the Board of Supervisors yielded to more than 1,000 angry Malibu residents, including Pepperdine University President David Davenport, and agreed not to go ahead with plans for an $86-million sewer system.

The board created a sewer committee to study alternative plans and is considering the $34-million system, which will allow most of the residents to continue to use septic tanks. Benton serves on the 11-member committee.

Larry Wan, president of the Malibu Township Council, said he thought Pepperdine’s actions might backfire by solidifying support for cityhood in the community. On Saturday and Sunday, more than 800 signatures urging legislators to support Hart’s bill were gathered and sent to Sacramento.

“I think people will be more cautious now of any campaigns against cityhood,” he said. “Pepperdine clearly has no confidence in the community’s ability to responsibly handle issues, such as sewage, and I don’t think people here appreciate that.”