County reverses course, will clear Zuma Creek underpass

Malibu has won a battle with L.A. County's Department of Beaches and Harbors, which has reversed its decision and will scrape accumulated rocks off the Zuma Creek underpass roadway this week.

It may be one week or more before the key road underpass beneath Pacific Coast Highway is opened to traffic.

The underpass pavement is a repurposed flood control channel, and many Malibu residents are infuriated that it has been blocked with water and flood debris for months at a time.

Late last week, L.A. County Beaches and Harbors was given permission by three layers of outside government to clear the road. The emergency permit had to be approved by the L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board, Caltrans, California Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The county is now coordinating its crews and scientific team. Officials say they are required to have a biological monitor watch the work because of the presence of ecological habitat.

Warren Ontiveros, the deputy director of Beaches and Harbors, says the cleanup work will begin next week. He said the work was delayed this spring because water was still flowing in the creek, and that no work in the underpass is permissible until the creek flow ceases.

Malibu road activist Meril May has been pressing the county hard to get the road open.