Meanwhile, dog playground advocates seek to expedite plan and a philosophical council explores the true meaning of “basement.”
By Cristina Forde/Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu City Council Monday refused to allow MTV to tape a reality show for 60 days this summer at a home on Broad Beach, appealed for an architect to work pro bono in designing a working plan for its new (and only) municipal park and listened to two architects battle over a project that would be built in front of the office of one.
Also, in response to questions arising from various building projects bumping through the permit process, the council attempted to define the concept of “basement” in terms of municipal goals.
Council backs staff MTV rejection
Councilmembers, in a 5-0 vote, perhaps remembering the complaints that accompanied a previous long-term MTV shoot at another beach house, upheld city staff’s rejection of a film permit for the MTV taping of the “Tough Enough” series third season at a home on Broad Beach.
The municipal code restricts filming to 14 days.
“We’ve taken every step that we know how to address any concerns,” location manager Cassandra Heredia told the council, but to no avail.
The production company had adjusted its schedule to accommodate the 4th of July week plans of the closest neighbor and wedding plans at the Malibu West Swim Club (which supported the permit), changed its parking plan, designed directional lighting and agreed to protect a delicate dune restoration next door.
“We’re talking about an area where nobody seems to actually live,” said Kayla Thames of the California Film Commission.
The home’s adjacent neighbors are Zuma Beach on one side, Pacific Coast Highway on another, three vacant lots, two sites under construction, the Malibu West Swim Club and one infrequently occupied residence.
Executive Producer Beth Holmes said the show is an elimination series featuring 13 wrestlers of World Wrestling Entertainment. The Malibu location was supposed to be secret.
Councilmembers closed ranks behind complaints by Malibu Bay Company, which owns the vacant dune-covered lot next door, and neighbors who objected to ’round-the-clock activity and had concerns about parking.
“Malibu is a residence first and a studio second,” said Councilmember Joan House. “The application is for 60 days during the heaviest [visitor] part of the year. The highway is crowded. The filming would be 24 hours in duration, through the night. I support the code. Fourteen days is reasonably generous.”
Councilmember Ken Kearsley wondered why the shooting needed to be in Malibu at all.
“Give them the name Malibu [for the production]. They can have it,” Kearsley said. “They can go to 818 country and fog up the window.
“They can put some sand in a parking lot and call it a beach.”
The applicants were not happy.
“I’ve been pulling permits for 10 years and have never had this problem,” said Heredia after the vote.
She has used the home previously for shoots. She said they were led to believe by the city the 14-day limitation was flexible.
Heredia plans to alert her colleagues.
“I will continue to let location professionals know the fairness and reason [applied] to how permits are issued in Malibu,” she said.
Much planning, no conclusion
Sixty pages of information in the City Council agenda notebook did not help councilmembers make a decision on a challenge by Malibu architect Ron Goldman to details of a house designed for Arthur and Kimberly Silver by Malibu architect Michael Barsocchini.
Goldman asserts the house, which would lie on the sloping bluff directly between his office on PCH and the ocean, exceeds code restrictions regarding trellis structure, projections over decks, balconies and doors, basement configuration and landscape height.
“The cumulative effect of all of this is a structure that is bigger, heavier and fatter than what the code intended,” Goldman said in a letter to the council.
The council sent the matter back to the Planning Commission on a 3-1 vote, Mayor Jeff Jennings dissenting. Councilmember Andrew Stern, a former member of the Planning Commission who had been involved in decisions regarding the house, recused himself.
Jennings predicted the issue would bounce back to the council in much the same form and they would eventually have to make a decision.
The application for construction of the 10,221 square foot, two-story, single-family home on a five-acre lot at 24920 Pacific Coast Highway was submitted to the city in December of 2000. Following recommendations by city planners and an appeal by Goldman, the plans were whittled down. The guesthouse and colonnade, east deck, guesthouse were removed, the distance from the centerline of PCH increased, the roofline altered and basement shrunk.
Got parkland, need money
Saying, “My lawyer’s heart turns to ice because of the possibility of liability,” Mayor Jennings nevertheless voted with the rest of the council to approve concept design recommendations for the city’s new 15-acre park on Trancas Canyon Road near Malibu West.
Jennings referred specifically to dog bites, as the Malibu Dog Park Association had presented a formidable appeal for a doggy playground during two workshops held by the Parks and Recreation Commission to devise preliminary park plans, submitting a petition with 685 signatures.
Other commission recommendations include a large flat area of irrigated sports turf for use as sports fields and neighborhood events, a children’s play area with slides, swings and play equipment, a group picnic area, benches, a disabled accessible walking and jogging path, emergency access, and restroom and storage facilities.
The commission is seeking funding and an architect who will donate design expertise.
“The City Council needs to be relentless in seeking sources of funding,” said Laura Rosenthal. “The land is useless without funding.”
The land was acquired in January of 2002.
The Malibu basement debate
City staff asked the council for directions on zoning goals regarding basements, which in new Malibu homes are less likely to contain root cellars and canned goods than theaters, bowling alleys and car collections. Many of the new designs already include sizeable basements, which enable builders to adhere to square footage restrictions while adding desired space.
Some of the problems cited by staff include how much of a basement can be exposed or day-lighted; how much of the basement should be restricted to conforming to the first-floor footprint of the house; how much square footage should be exempted; and method of calculating the basement area-the most significant factor being the requirement that a basement must be enclosed by walls.
The council recommended more study.