The Planning Commission rejected public testimony regarding environmental and traffic concerns.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Saying they could not argue with the experts, the Planning Commission voted 4-0 last week to approve a coastal development permit for the construction of a 14,950-square-foot office building on Portshead Road near Pacific Coast Highway. Public speakers who opposed the project said a portion of it was illegally proposed to be located in an environmentally sensitive habitat area, or ESHA, but the city’s biologist disagreed.
The Portshead project received Planning Commission approval for a city permit in 2001. It was later appealed and the City Council rejected the appeal the following year. Commission Chair Les Moss said he hoped the Planning Commission approval for a coastal permit would not be appealed because the City Council would most likely reject that appeal anyhow.
Former City Council candidate John Mazza and Pat Healy from the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth said that a stream located on the project’s site was an ESHA, because, Mazza said, the Malibu Local Coastal Program defines all streams as ESHA.
The LCP prohibits construction within 100 feet of an ESHA. But City Biologist Dave Crawford said that is not a correct interpretation of the LCP and that streams are discussed in the ESHA section, but it does not imply that all streams are ESHA.
“Most of the streams in Point Dume do not meet the criteria of ESHA,” Crawford said.
Several concerns were also raised at the Sept. 6 meeting that the existence of a new office building would lead to a significant amount of additional traffic in Point Dume because Portshead Road is a main connector from Pacific Coast Highway to the residential portion of the neighborhood. City staff said the possible problem was dealt with by a stipulation that people could not make a right-hand turn out of the office building area, which would lead to the residential neighborhood. Also, drivers are prohibited from making a left-hand turn from Portshead Road to Pacific Coast Highway because it would be dangerous. Mazza said he believed the project would still cause traffic problems in Point Dume.
As with the ESHA issue, the commissioners chose to take the professionals’ words over the public testimony.
Commissioner Pete Anthony said, “At this point all I can do is follow what the experts tell me.”
Also at the meeting, the commission approved coastal permits for homes on Pacific Coast Highway and De Butts Terrace. The commission meets again on Sept. 19.