Homeowners group may also file a separate suit against the commission over its approval of the overnight camping park plan. In other news, a councilmember announces Sheriff Baca’s interest in handing highway patrol over to Caltrans.
Jonathan Friedman / The Malibu Times
The City Council on Monday voted unanimously to file a second lawsuit against the California Coastal Commission regarding the parks development project by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) and its sister organization the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. (MRCA).
The project includes, among other features, overnight camping with the use of propane stoves. This lawsuit is in reaction to the commission’s approval of the project. The city filed another suit last year in response to the commission supporting the project in concept. Ramirez Canyon homeowners are also considering a lawsuit, their attorney said on Tuesday. They also sued the commission last year for the in-concept approval.
Council members gave City Attorney Christi Hogin the go-ahead to file the suit during the closed-session portion of Monday’s meeting. An announcement of the decision was made at the beginning of the public session, but no council member discussed the matter. Hogin said the project is “inconsistent with the city’s Local Coastal Program (LCP),” which is a set of two documents establishing coastal development rules for Malibu.
Rory Skei, the SMMC’s chief deputy director, said on Tuesday that she was not surprised to hear the city would be suing over this project. Malibu residents and city officials have conflicted with the SMMC on this issue since the project was first proposed four years ago. There have been brief moments of near-resolution, but for the most part the two sides have not seen eye-to-eye.
“It is what it is,” Skei said. “I don’t have any other comment. These things take their course.”
Steve Amerikaner, who represents the local homeowners that make up the Ramirez Canyon Preservation Fund, said the board members were considering litigation and would vote on the matter shortly. He said the project is inconsistent with the Coastal Act, the document that establishes the rules for coastal development and is the basis for all LCPs.
Officially called the Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Public Works Plan, the project includes 54 total camping sites at SMMC properties at Bluffs Park (35), Corral Canyon (17) and Ramirez (2). The Ramirez sites will only be built following the construction of an emergency access road. Ramirez residents and SMMC officials differ on where that road should be. The project also includes trails, sites for day-use and parking spaces at those locations as well as at Escondido Canyon and the Latigo trailhead. Also, the SMMC can host gatherings at Ramirez of up to 200 people, as many as 16 times per year.
Also at the Monday meeting this week, the council voted to give the City of Torrance $200,000 in Metropolitan Transportation Authority Proposition A money that can only be used for transportation projects in exchange for $140,000. Malibu city officials say there are limited options to use the Proposition A money, and the city would be better off getting cash from Torrance that it can use to fill budget gaps.
The lone opponent to this plan was Pamela Conley Ulich, who wanted the city to use the Proposition A money to offer public transportation for young people.
“It’s time for us to give alternative transportation methods to our children and our children’s children.” Conley Ulich said. “And it’s time for us to get out of our cars.”
Several council members and city staff said this might be a good idea for next year, when the city is expected again to receive approximately $200,000 in Proposition A funds. But at this time, they said, it would not be a good idea since the city had already projected in its budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year that it would receive the money from Torrance.
Also at the meeting, Conley Ulich said she had spoken to Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, and they both were interested in bringing a temporary Sheriff’s substation to the Civic Center.
In addition, Councilmember Lou La Monte said Sheriff Baca had told him he supports a future with the California Highway Patrol monitoring Pacific Coast Highway rather than the Sheriff’s Department, something Malibu officials and residents have wanted for years. La Monte said Baca spoke with Yaroslavsky and him about working on getting this accomplished through dealing with Caltrans and the state Legislature.
“So if we work together, we may be able to get this highway finally as safe as it should be, or safer than it is now at least,” La Monte said.