HISTORY OF RAMBLA PAFICIO ROAD
The Rebuilding of Lower Rambla Pacifico
Rambla Pacifico Road was constructed during World War II, more than likely as a direct access to the now-defunct Nike Missile base located at the top of the mountain. With the creation of Rambla Pacifico and the larger development of Malibu in the 1950s, many houses were built in the area. Today there are approximately 750 homes along the Rambla route from Pacific Coast Highway to Saddle Peak. About half are in the City of Malibu and the other half in Los Angeles County.
The lower, rebuilt portion of Rambla Pacifico Road is a short one – it is no more than 1800 feet in length. But the narrative of the rebuilding of the road is a long and winding one of challenges, setbacks and ultimately of success. It is the story of the unwavering dedication of a pubic spirited group of individuals committed to the safety of their families and their community.
1983: A Section of lower Rambla Pacifico begins sliding. Ten houses are damaged or destroyed by the slide. Apparently a broken water pipe had undermined the hill. In need of major repairs, and after a year of patches, the road is closed. Lawsuits result and extensive geotechnical analyses are performed. Several unsuccessful efforts are made to rebuild the road.
1990: Malibu becomes a City. A court orders LA County to turn over the responsibility for the road to the City of Malibu, but the City is not required to accept responsibility for the road.
1993: A major fire destroys 250 homes in the Rambla Pacifico and La Costa neighborhoods. Declarations by L.A. County Fire Captains in charge state that the large-scale destruction of homes in both communities is mainly a result of the lack of access for firefighters caused by the road closure.
1994: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocates $19 million dollars to rebuild Rambla Pacifico. But California Assemblyman Tom Hayden objects and leads a successful effort to stop the funding.
1996: Several residents who lost their homes to the ’93 fire, led by David Kagon, Michael McCarty, Joe Yarman, Peter Laden and Ron Munro investigate the possibility of having the road rebuilt with private financing. A neighborhood group is formed as a non-profit 501c3 corporation: the Lower Rambla Pacifico Road Owners Association, Inc. (LRPROA)
May 1999: At a Malibu City Council meeting, Mayor Harry Barovsky, in the interest of public safety, orders City staff to do whatever necessary to get the road rebuilt, including having the City build the road if the residents could not do so.
Following the meeting, the LRPROA board determines a private road could be built faster and cheaper, and would provide improved security. Money is raised from fifty families. Easements are secured and plans are drawn to connect upper Rambla Pacifico to Las Flores Canyon Road through “Pop’s Pass,” a small private road, which connects to Las Flores Canyon Road. However, this route proves problematical.
May 2002: Mayor Ken Kearsley allocates approximately $200,000 of City funds for the public benefit of road access for emergency vehicles and an escape route during fires for all firefighters and residents.
2005: An alternative route, connecting upper and lower Rambla Pacifico, is investigated for geotechnical feasibility. It is determined that the hillside had stabilized, having moved only 1.5 inches in fifteen years.
2007: The Malibu City staff enthusiastically embraces the new route. Plans and geotechnical documentation are prepared.
October 2007: Downed power lines ignite a fire along Las Virgenes Canyon. Thirty hours later the fire almost reaches the Rambla neighborhood. In later years Hume Road will be permanently closed and upper Rambla, just above Briarbluff will be closed for several months.
2008: In the interest of public safety, City Manager Jim Thorsen pushes the road rebuilding plans forward by issuing an emergency permit. City Geologist, Chris Dean, approves the geotechnical analysis provided by the LRPROA geotechnical engineer. Nevertheless, due to considerable opposition from a small group of neighbors concerned about perceived traffic issues, the emergency permit is withdrawn.
May 2010: LRPROA follows the Coastal Development Permitting process, spends millions of dollars on geotechnical analyses and provides mountains of data to meet the City Geologist’s strict requirements. The project is approved.
July 2010: A permit for the road rebuild is issued and construction begins. Persevering through several months of warrantless challenges, insurance and a bond are obtained and a release of liability required by the City is signed.
October 2011: Ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Rambla Pacifico Road is re-opened! Original rough estimates for building the new road section, and improving the existing sections to city standards was between 1 and 1.5 Million Dollars. The final cost to build the road is approximately 5.5 million dollars. Because of the major construction parameters for the Road, including retaining walls and caissons, one contractor describes the road as a “bunker that could withstand a direct Nuke hit’.
R A M B L A P A C I F I C O
Start to Finish
To reopen Rambla, we wanted to create a safe environment for the community, enhance the quality of life for the residents and increase property values.
We first looked at how we could build the road and what we needed to do to mitigate the impact on adjacent home owners and the environment. The road would be 1,800 linear feet.
Our goal was to reduce the weight from the top of the hill and buttress the slope at the bottom. All of this had to be done without increasing any factors of safely for adjacent lots and home owners, with the least impact on the environment.
After two years of developing plans, erosion and stormwater pollution control, landscaping plans, numerous surveys, engineering, biology, geology & geotechnology reports and many City Planning meetings, we started brush clearance. This was done by hand, employing 35 workers, a biologist, an archaeologist and a Native American Indian to oversee the operation. The brush clearance was slowed by three bee attacks that resulted in several workers being stung numerous times with one worker taken to the hospital. Next, it was the rattlesnakes that had to be removed by hand and relocated 500 feet from the road site.
Finally, grading started by cutting a path where the road would be constructed. We removed 27,600 cubic yards of dirt, mostly from the top of the hill. This took over 5,000 dump truck loads. At the top of the hill, to reduce the weight, we replaced the dirt with 72 blocks of high density Styrofoam, each about the size of a car, with gravel and back drains. The blocks were tied together with 480 feet of 12-foot wide geogrid and four feet of dirt was placed on top of the Styrofoam.
We started grading the road base from the top down. The road base had to be over graded to a depth of five feet with geogrid installed at two foot depths and the dirt replaced and compacted to 95%.
To buttress the bottom of the road, we installed 18 caissons, each three feet in diameter and 55 feet deep, tied together with a three foot concrete header. In addition, we added 1,700 self-locking blocks at the edge of the road base, tied into the road with 780 feet of 12-foot wide geogrid.
The City required an Environment Impact Report completed by a third party engineering firm. This took six months, several City meetings and all impacts on the environment were mitigated.
Because we could not have cut slopes steeper than three feet horizontal, we installed 1,435 linear feet of retaining walls ranging from 2.75 to 6.75 feet in height. The retaining walls have reinforced steel bars and are filled with solid grout. There is over 8,000 feet of concrete “V” ditches and swales along the edge of the road, behind the retaining walls and on the hill slopes. The water is collected into four large drains and channeled to Las Flores Stream to prevent runoff onto adjacent properties.
Next, we brought in utilities from both the top and bottom of the road. We need electric, telephone and FIOS for the cameras and monitoring system. The monitoring system came from Thailand and is installed in three places in the road. If the road moves more than one inch, the monitoring system will activate the red lights on the gate posts and lock the gates. We are the only road in Malibu that has this system.
Next was the paving process. We put six inches of gravel base, compacted to 95% with four inches of asphalt on top. The road was striped with glass chip paint to reflect at night. The gates were designed and fabricated, waiting to be installed after the paving. There are four cameras on each gate. Next came the signage, as required by the City and the Road Board. The final item was hydroseeding all disturbed slopes with 14 different native seeds.
The actual construction took over one year and cost the members $5.5 million. We increased the overall factors of safety by 10%.
This was truly a group effort and we did something very good for our neighborhood and those near the road.