Less than two weeks after voting to authorize an ordinance allowing offsite parking for hotels, motels and inns, council member (and newly elected mayor pro tem) Rick Mullen switched positions, sending the proposed wording back down to the planning commission for clarification and to add more stipulations to the proposed rule.
Council changed its mind on the wording of the ordinance that had recently been approved on April 12, due to a swing vote by Mullen.
In August, the Malibu Beach Inn made a request for a permit to build a swimming pool adjacent to the hotel building, in an area currently used to park cars. According to owners, they assumed requesting to move parking across PCH to the current Hertz lot would be admissible under current ordinances, but the city begged to differ — out of that came the proposed zoning text amendment.
The three members who rejected the ordinance — Mullen, newly elected Mayor Skylar Peak and Council Member Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner — felt the new law would have been premature, and the three sought to hone the wording, as well as follow through on studies requested by the planning commission that were not able to be completed by city planners.
“I’d like to make a motion to remand it back to the planning commission,” Mullen said, later adding, “I’d like them to reconsider it, and maybe reconsider being more specific in the things they would like the planning department to re-examine.”
Suggestions from council included being very specific as to how many additional spaces the city would require in an offsite lot — council suggested a 20 percent increase in parking.
“Just to be clear, we’re going to be sending this back to planning commission for review, on the basis that any spot that is to be relocated should be a full size parking space… with an increase of 20 percent over what they’re removing,” Peak said. “That would mean if they’re removing 20 full-size spaces, they would have to add 24 full-size spaces.”
Mullen added a request that the planning commission also consider a project-specific solution for offsite parking within 300 feet of the hotel without the use of shuttles.
If stacked parking is permitted, the number of spaces available must be 30 percent more than the minimum allowed in the current code.
Mullen, Peak and Wagner voted in favor of the motion, with Council Members Laura Rosenthal and Lou La Monte against.
Skylar Peak Malibu’s newest mayor
Council voted unanimously on Monday night, April 24, to elect Skylar Peak its next mayor. Peak takes over from outgoing Mayor Lou La Monte, who served in the position since July.
Peak’s current term as mayor is his second; he last served as mayor from March 2015 to January 2016.
Following Peak’s election, new council member Rick Mullen was elected mayor pro tem. It is tradition in Malibu that the council member who received the most votes in the last election be selected as mayor pro tem. As the only freshman council member, Mullen is the only sitting council member who has never been mayor and, if tradition continues, he will be elected to the top spot at the next rotation.
Peak was sworn into office by his mother, Denise, and daughter, Dusty.
Mullen was sworn in as mayor pro tem by his daughter, Tatiana.
Council reaffirms rejection of rodenticides
Following years of movement against the use of poisonous chemicals in Malibu including rodenticides, pesticides and herbicides, council reaffirmed its stance against toxins on Monday.
A line item on the council’s agenda would have asked the city to allocate funds toward a pest management study that would have included looking at chemicals as an option to do away with pests. A vocal outcry from members of the local activist group Poison Free Malibu, as well as the Malibu Monarch Project, led to council voting to allow a study only of nontoxic pest management methods.
“I think the direction that was very clear from council at the time, was that we did not want any situation where we would have those items used in our parks — and I know there’s this caveat, this little disclaimer at the end of the policy, which is I think why people in the public have a problem with what’s being said here… we don’t want that in there. Period,” Peak said.
Environmental Sustainability Director Craig George countered that council may want to be aware of other options before they reject them.
“We want to be able to present options for your consideration, making sure you understand what you’re going to be doing, and I think you will, and we can move forward with whatever that policy determines to be,” George said.
Rosenthal summed up what it appeared everyone on council was trying to say: “I don’t feel a need to study using pesticides because we’ve already said we don’t want to.”
The body voted unanimously, 5-0, to authorize a study of only poison-free pest management options.
