Association’s leading member says the 32-town home project is a pollution threat. Developer says the association is trying to “bleed out the company” with lawsuits.
By Jonathan Friedman/Staff Writer
An offer by the developer of a 32-town home project on PCH, west of Trancas Canyon Road, to allow Broad Beach homeowners to hook up to a wastewater treatment facility has done nothing to persuade a property owners association member not to appeal a recent court decision that gave the go-ahead for the development.
Trancas PCH’s Dean Isaacson hosted a community meeting on Friday at Malibu United Methodist Church to explain the project that includes 32 detached town homes on 8.5 acres of the 35-acre property. The remaining portion of the land will be donated to the city as open space. Isaacson said the project would include a wastewater treatment facility, and Broad Beach homeowners could hook up to the system.
Trancas Property Owners Association member Marshall Grossman, who is an attorney but does not work in that capacity for the association, said that offer does nothing to prevent what he said would be tremendous environmental problems caused by the project. He said surface water and subsurface water runoff would affect the entire area, including Broad Beach, which the property owners association encompasses.
“If Mr. Isaacson thinks he is going to begin building anytime soon, he is going to have to spend more than money on newspaper ads and community meetings where disinformation is circulated,” Grossman said.
Isaacson said Grossman is trying to “bleed out” his company “by spoon feeding different lawsuits to slow things down,” but he said it would not work.
The development project has been through a long journey of lawsuits and conflicts even by Malibu standards. The county approved tract maps for the previous owner in 1980 and again in 1985, allowing the construction of 52 town homes and 15 single-family homes. The company also received coastal development permits for the project in 1981, 1989 and 1992. A 2001 decision by the California Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Trancas Property Owners Association that the coastal permits were no longer valid.
The city also fought with the company for several years, arguing that the tract maps were no longer valid. The city and Trancas PCH reached the settlement for the 32 town homes last year. The property owners association then sued on a variety of counts, including that the settlement was reached in violation of the Brown Act and the California Environmental Quality Act. Last month, the court ruled against the association. Grossman said it would file an appeal.
City Attorney Christi Hogin said a rare situation occurred in the court decision on the association’s lawsuit in which the city learned what would have happened had it not settled with Trancas PCH. Hogin said this was because in Judge David P. Yaffe’s ruling, he said had the settlement between the city and Trancas PCH never occurred, the tract maps would have been deemed valid. Grossman said that interpretation of Yaffe’s decision is a distortion.
“There is nothing in the court’s order to suggest that the city ‘escaped’ this density [52 town homes and 15 single-family homes] by entering into the settlement agreement,” he said.
Grossman said the city’s settlement with Trancas PCH was a sellout to the interests of local residents. He said in addition to appealing the court decision, the association would be filing a lawsuit that challenges what he said has been the city’s improper handling of development in the Trancas area. Grossman said by approaching it on a project-by-project basis, rather than looking at the greater picture, the area has been environmentally threatened.
“The City Council’s approach to development in the Trancas area has been to shoot from the hip, draw litigation and then cave in to whichever litigant is spending the most money,” Grossman said. “To me, this is a funny way of running a government.”
In response, Councilmember Andy Stern said, “I’m sorry to hear that Mr. Grossman will be filing yet another lawsuit against the city of Malibu. The reality is the recent settlement that the city of Malibu made significantly reduced the development that the court ordered.”
Grossman said although the density is a factor, the most significant problem is the issue of surface water runoff. He said a solution would be for something to be created to capture the surface water, divert it from Broad Beach, have it be treated and then discharged into the ocean. He said this system should be funded by the city, the property owners association, Trancas PCH and the Malibu Bay Co., which also owns property in the area. The property owners association met with Trancas PCH to discuss this and other issues recently. The two sides agreed not to disclose what went on at the meeting, although both acknowledged no agreement was reached.
“I cannot tell you what occurred at that meeting, but it is enough if I told you how ridiculous he [Grossman] sounded and how unwilling he was to compromise,” Isaacson said. “We had such a minor request of him, and he refused.”
Despite his frustration, Isaacson said he still wants to work out a solution with the association, and urged Grossman to contact him. Isaacson said he hopes further litigation could be avoided.
“We could serve everyone a lot better if we come together rather than beating each other with clubs and wasting more legal dollars,” Isaacson said at Friday’s meeting.