Many of us have worked hard to gain cityhood to preserve our rural way of life. Now some members of the California Coastal Commission (CCC) want to deny us our rural lifestyles and our democratic rights to accountable local city planning. Now we must work hard to reverse their undemocratic and unconstitutional planning process and their resulting bad policies and ordinances. Get ready to attend the Thursday, July 10, CCC hearing in Huntington Beach and insist that the rest of the Commissioners not adopt the unscientific and unreasonable staff findings and policies or their consequential bureaucratic nightmare ordinances.
Some Commissioners and key staff want to remove the very meaning of our rural residential zoning and really use our private property at our expense and liability for only public trails, open space public views, and public and wildlife easements with coyote permeable fencing. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy members including State and National Park Services want none of these CCC restrictions on their lands and have asked for an exemption.
Re-reading our City’s mission statement, related goals, general plan and ordinances reinforces our beliefs in local government. Our City Councils have developed many policies with lots of citizen participation to preserve our beautiful environments and allow reasonable remodels, new homes, corrals, barns, workshops, greenhouses, personal landscaping, fruit trees, vineyards, and the like.
Our City planners and biologists actually help applicants study their sites and find the best options to protect our environments. Our City works with consultants including other biologists, geologists to come up with solutions that allow our rural lifestyles and encourage open spaces. They are not like many CCC staff and a few key Commissioners who just want to say no, or make things impossible to do or disregard consultants as hired expediters.
Request the CCC at: 805.585.1800 to send you their latest LCP and Local Implementation Plan for Malibu to peruse . Ask why the Point Dume and other marine areas are not protected like they were in our L.A. County LUP. Ask why recent remodel applicants are having to tear out non-native trees and shrubs that provide habitat for bees, birds and monarch butterflies on Point Dume. Ask why they have made it practically impossible for you to have horses, gardens, orchards and reasonable Fire Department and State Fair Plan brush clearance.
Ask why your house cannot be colored white or you can’t have a lawn or rose bushes on your bluff lot. Ask why the CCC wants to replace the regional Bluffs Park soccer, baseball and family picnic areas with flammable coastal sage scrub next to Malibu Road and the Civic Center. Look at their ordinances and ask why they want only large restaurants to seat more than 125 people and large hotels to fill up their development plan of 50 acres of visitor serving commercial uses in the Civic Center.
Let the Commission know how you feel. Better yet, inform our Governor Davis (916.445.2841, 445.4633 fax) and state Senate President Pro tem John Burton (916.445.1412, 445.4722 fax). With bad advice, they helped create this mess and they have the power to stop it. You must get to know their staff since many of their non-elected appointees, their CCC Commissioners, plan to micromanage our City and rural life styles to death with their plans. Contact Californians for LOCAL Coastal Planning at: 317.8487 or at the Web site: www.californiacoastplanning.org to learn how we must effectively work together now to restore our city’s mission statement, General Plan and ordinances as examples of democracy at work.
Dr. Jeff Harris