The lawyer for the Malibu Bay Company says
properties will be built on a “site-by-site” basis if Measure M loses at the polls. Heal the Bay is up in arms over a statement on the ballot argument written by opposition to Measure M, and demands a public retraction.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to Malibu Times
Malibu Bay Company (MBC) attorney Dick Volpert told the City Council at its meeting Monday he sees “no likelihood” that MBC President Jerry Perenchio would renegotiate with the city if Malibu voters reject Measure M, the MBC Development Agreement. That conflicts with a Measure M opposition argument that a better deal is possible.
“We’ve spent not only four years, but close to a million dollars in environmental studies (to reach an agreement) … I can’t conceive
of a reason to reopen (the negotiations),” Volpert said, adding, if the agreement loses in November, the only alternative is for the MBC’s properties be dealt with on a site-by-site basis.
But Richard Carrigan of Citizens Against Measure M said Volpert’s message doesn’t mean much.
“We heard this before,” he said. “The City Council, as well as the city attorney, said, prior to May 7 when the commission made it’s deliberation, ‘this is it. There’s not going to be any further negotiation,’ and yet they did negotiate the very next day.”
Several people spoke on the agreement. The proponents said the deal gives Malibu a number of amenities, guarantees significant open space and they stressed this could be the city’s only chance to purchase the Chili Cook-Off property.
But Malibu Community Action Network (CAN) member Ozzie Silna presented what he said would be a better deal. His plan includes a longer period for the city to buy the Chili Cook-Off site and Malibu purchasing or gaining the right to use two additional Civic Center area properties on which wastewater treatment facilities could be built, rather than one on the Chili Cook-Off property. CAN also proposes that, if the MBC develops the Chili Cook-Off site, it should be restricted to what the Interim Zoning Ordinance (IZO) allows, and the donation of 14.87 acres of MBC’s Trancas properties be made to the city where ball fields could be built and the city purchases the Riders and Ropers site.
As for the rest of Silna’s plan, Jennings said, “All of those things are great if Mr. Perenchio would want to do them. But he has not offered to do any of those things.”
Also at the meeting, the council discussed Perenchio’s golf course property. Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Barovsky said she supported deed restricting the site to prevent homes from being developed there, something Silna proposed in his plan. However, Volpert said Perenchio has no intention of altering the property in his lifetime.
Heal the Bay says it’s neutral on MBC deal
An issue rehashed at Monday night’s council meeting was the dispute between Heal the Bay and CAN. Last month, Mark Gold, the organization’s executive director, challenged a statement in an argument authored by CAN that appears on the November ballot. Gold said it infers Heal the Bay is against the agreement, while it actually is neutral. The statement originated from an e-mail sent by Gold to Silna. Gold said the statement was taken out of context from the e-mail, and that it was supposed to be private. He requested a retraction. But that required legal action, which Gold declined to pursue.
Last week, Kenneth A. Ehrlich of Heal the Bay sent a letter to CAN attorney Jan Chatten-Brown demanding that CAN issue a retraction statement either by publishing a notice in the city’s newspapers or by mailing one to every registered voter.
CAN President Steve Uhring responded Monday by reading a letter from Chatten-Brown stating that Heal the Bay’s request was unreasonable because the statement was accurate and the e-mail was not private. Brown also said Uhring and Gold had worked together to form an alternative statement, but the city rejected it since the statement cannot simply be replaced, and that Gold agreed Malibu CAN had done everything that it could, short of suing the city, to address his original concern.
At the council meeting, Gold heatedly reiterated that Heal the Bay is neutral on the agreement, although it has some concerns, which it has already addressed to the city. In a telephone interview with The Malibu Times on Tuesday, he said he strongly disagrees with Chatten-Brown’s statement and that he believed CAN had not done everything it could to get the statement removed.
City attorney aims to get LCP on April ballot
In other items, City Attorney Christi Hogin said she filed an opening brief in the city’s appeal of the recent court decision that Malibu could not bring the California Coastal Commission-created Malibu Local Coastal Plan to a referendum. Additionally, she has filed a motion to request a decision by mid-January, at the latest, so the item could potentially go on the April ballot. Also, Hogin said the city is looking at how applicants might be able to get coastal exemptions for smaller projects, reducing the number of people who have been unable to get building permits since the city’s dispute with the commission began last year.