The city attorney is working on a deal to permanently ban league play at Trancas Park so a lawsuit against the city will be dropped.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
A deal is in the works to resolve the legal battle over Trancas Canyon Park. City Attorney Christi Hogin has offered to request the city council further cement the prohibition against league play at the park to ease local concern. Malibu Township Council representatives say they would drop their lawsuit against the city if they are satisfied league play is totally off the table as a possibility.
League play is already banned at the park, which is under preliminary construction at its location on the east side of Trancas Canyon Road near Pacific Coast Highway. The coastal development permit approved by the city council earlier this year contains a condition limiting sports at the facility to practices. But to the MTC and the local residents in support of the suit, that condition is not good enough. They fear a future council could eliminate it.
“We’re trying to come up with language that league play will be prohibited and give some level of comfort for the homeowners in the area that another city council can’t just reverse it unilaterally,” MTC President Steve Uhring said in an interview this week.
Hogin sent an e-mail last week to MTC attorney Frank Angel offering to recommend the city council record the prohibition against the title for the property. She then submitted sample language to Angel, which he is discussing with his client.
Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Barovsky said in an interview on Monday that she would support Hogin’s recommendation.
“That’s [league play prohibition] always been on there,” Barovsky said. “So if he [Angel] wants that in some sort of writing, that’s fine.”
The MTC’s suit also claims the dog park portion of the project is slated for a state-protected environmentally sensitive habitat area, or ESHA. Uhring said the MTC would be willing to drop that issue if the league play matter could be resolved.
“This has been dragged out long enough and everybody’s tired now,” Uhring said. “We can probably live with that if league play can be prohibited. Then we can all move forward.”
Uhring said he is satisfied that he and others have earned victories in making the park plan a better project, noting that an earlier proposal called for grading of the Trancas ridge. This was tossed due to opposition. Uhring said an absolute, concrete ban on league play would be the final piece to make the situation satisfactory
Meanwhile, a court hearing is scheduled Dec. 14 for a judge to decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction to halt the current work on the park in preparation for a Feb. 2 trial date for the suit. The MTC last month attempted to get a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the development, but the motion was denied. The MTC tried to bring that request to the Court of Appeal, but the court declined to hear it.
Angel told The Malibu Times that the MTC’s attempt to stop the project immediately was “more to protect the city from itself,” because, he said, if a deal is not reached and the suit does go to trial, and the judge sides with the MTC, the city would then have to go back and restore the area.