Malibu council approves Caltrans PCH safety project after appeal over Pepperdine sidewalk

The Malibu City Council voted Nov. 24 to approve the Planning Commission'recommended Coastal Development Permit for a Caltrans-funded Pacific Coast Highway safety project, overruling an appeal filed by the Malibu Township Council focused mainly on a proposed sidewalk fronting Pepperdine University.

The decision lets proceed a corridor package that includes new guardrails, curb ramps, sidewalks in specified locations, nearly 9.7 miles of bike lanes (revised in staff materials), pedestrian signals and select street lighting. Staff told the council the project has broad public backing and that Caltrans reduced the originally proposed number of street lights to address community concerns.

The appeal was brought by the Malibu Township Council to challenge the Planning Commission'approved permit on grounds that the Planning Commission'findings were not supported by the evidence and that the chosen design was not the least environmentally damaging alternative for one contested sidewalk segment. Bill Sampson, president of the Malibu Township Council, said the group had negotiated several improvements with Caltrans but remained opposed to the sidewalk on the Pepperdine frontage, calling it "a sidewalk to nowhere" and arguing the Bluffs Park side would be safer. "The only remaining issue is the proposed Pepperdine sidewalk," Sampson said during the appellant presentation.

Caltrans representatives, led by Lee (Leigh) Haber, said the Pepperdine-side sidewalk sits inside the state right-of-way and is the most feasible option for connecting existing sidewalks between Malibu Canyon Road and John Tyler Drive without additional property takings or protracted permitting. Haber described the project as an "interim safety improvement" undertaken within a constrained 19-month funding window and said emergency responders were consulted. When asked about the retaining wall described by opponents, Caltrans confirmed a localized retaining wall roughly 50 feet long and 3 feet tall would be required near a drainage inlet and that it would be designed to minimize visibility from PCH.

Pepperdine senior vice president Nicole Taylor told council members the university supports the broader project but urged the council to either remove the contested sidewalk segment or impose a condition requiring Caltrans to demonstrate, with concurrence from the sheriff's department, the fire department and Pepperdine, that the segment improves rather than degrades pedestrian safety and does not impede emergency operations. "We want the project to move forward without compromising safety or emergency operations," Taylor said.

Hundreds of residents submitted correspondence and more than 40 people spoke at the meeting. Student speakers and parents, several of them survivors or relatives of people killed on PCH, framed the vote as a life-or-death choice and urged quick action to secure roughly $50 million in state funding for corridor improvements. "The next generation of Malibu kids deserve to grow up without a fear of a road that defines our community," Parker Kaplan, a Malibu High sophomore, told the council.

Council deliberations focused on whether the negotiated concessions from Caltrans were sufficient and on the risk of jeopardizing the state funding if the appeal were upheld. After discussion and a clean-up correction to the staff-reported bike-lane mileage, the council adopted the Planning Commission approval (staff referred to it as Resolution No. 25-57) and the motion carried. The official record shows the council approved the Planning Commission decision and instructed staff to coordinate any remaining conditions with Caltrans and other first responders.

The council asked the appellant to avoid further administrative escalation where possible; staff and Caltrans officials said they would continue to coordinate with Pepperdine and the city's public safety partners on site-specific assessments and mitigations as the project moves toward construction.

The council's action allows Caltrans to move forward with the approved safety elements. Next steps include final design and construction scheduling by Caltrans and continued coordination on the Pepperdine segment, where the council left room for either a delayed construction trigger or a condition requiring prior concurrence from emergency-response agencies before the sidewalk would be built.