Amendment will make it easier for landowners to subdivide property on hilly land. Large, 28-car garage is heatedly opposed by residents.
By Cristina Forde/Special to The Malibu Times
Providing relief from original city ordinances that severely restrict construction on hillsides, the City Council voted 4-1 Monday in favor of a slope/density amendment to allow creation of one additional lot in a subdivision.
The exemption could allow, for example, the construction of two homes on a hilly 4-acre parcel that is zoned R-2 (two acres per home) even if the city’s slope/density formula shows that 4-1/2 acres are required for the two homes.
“We’re trying to get things back into balance,” said Mayor Jeff Jennings regarding the slope/density exemption after the meeting. “We have seen situations that seemed manifestly unjust.”
The vote came in a meeting dominated by passionate public comment on pesticides in Malibu, dogs on beaches, a city arboretum, trees blocking views and the construction of a controversial 28-car garage on a residential street at Point Dume.
Staff also reported on Malibu’s Local Coastal Plan and compliance with Los Angeles County’s Congestion Management Program.
The issue of slope/density has been dubbed the “Stacy Keach ordinance” for the actor who is suing the City of Malibu. Keach was denied a permit to subdivide a 5.95 parcel of land into two lots.
Pat Healy of the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth, who is opposed to the amendment, told the council that build-out should be on flat parcels only and that the amendment to the Subdivision Ordinance “has the capacity to degrade the environment.”
“You are flying totally blind,” Healy said. “You may be setting dangerous precedents.”
The additional lot must meet six strict criteria to qualify for exemption from the formula. The additional lot must meet the minimum acreage requirement and must not pose an environmental impact.
Councilmember Ken Kearsley opposed the slope/density exemption amendment, which required a 4-5 City Council vote to pass. Kearsley said the project needs a “focused EIR (Environmental Impact Report).”
The city does not know how many parcels may qualify for exemption.
Staff tries to read Coastal signals, worries about mysterious disappearing ESHAs
City Manager Katie Lichtig said, although the city is “in the home stretch” in the development of Malibu’s Local Coastal Plan by the California Coastal Commission, “it is hard to know what progress we’ve made.”
Malibu has received only a three-page written memorandum on 15 issues, Lichtig said. “There is little we can interpret from the memo “in terms of what the final outcome will be,” Lichtig said. The Coastal Commission will release documents for public review on Aug. 23.
Malibu gets credit
The council adopted a resolution finding the city in compliance with all elements of the county’s Congestion Management Plan (CMP). The city derived 1,503 credit points from last year’s strategic transportation plan.
The 1992 CMP requires the city to report the impact of local growth on the transportation system. Noncompliance could lead to the state controller withholding gas taxes from the city. The presence of sufficient credit points means that Malibu “buys time to develop management strategies,” according to Associate Planner Sharyl Beebe.
Garage issue still burning
Public speakers Sam Hall Kaplan, Eleanor Bertonneau and Curtis Horton again blasted the council about the construction of a 28-car garage on Grasswood at Point Dume.
Kaplan, who said he takes his case to his National Public Radio audience, said, “The outrage continues. Also the shocking ineptitude of this council.”
He said he informed the Coastal Commission of the issue.
“If the City of Malibu can’t stop a 28-car garage how can you trust it to be stewards of the coastline?” he asked.
In response, Barovsky reminded Kaplan and Bertonneau that the structure was permitted legally under interim ordinances “passed by the City Council supported by Mr. Kaplan,” and that the present council is trying to rewrite them. She told Kaplan he was rude.
“I never thought we could solve a lot of problems by lobbing grenades,” she said.
Views, herbicides, gardens and dogs
Hil Covington of Save Our Views called for a view restoration ordinance similar to the one at Rancho Palos Verdes. Covington, who said his view from his Sea Vista home is now more a “tree vista,” said a neighbor’s lawyer informed him that the neighbor would ” ‘negotiate a dedicated view corridor if compensation were substantial.’ “
“It’s not right to take away my view and sell it back to me,” Covington said.
Valerie Sklarevsky, Mary Wright, Eric Lloyd Wright and George Patton asked the council to look into the spraying of herbicides by state or county agencies in Malibu.
Garden Club member Margaret Cole said the planting, watering and poisoning of an area of nonnative Bermuda grass at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School has created a vicious cycle of disrupting the ecosystem, as horse’s hooves pick up the grass and spread it around.
Sam Birenbaum, a beach resident for 20 years, urged the council to enforce dog ordinances.
“A mound from every hound,” Birenbaum said. “Forty-four percent of people with dogs don’t pick up.”
Theatrically, he reached into a bag he had brought to the lectern. The council appeared to be relieved when he pulled out a dog mask.