Also, the city must pay an unexpected $37,000 to Malibu residents as part of a class action lawsuit, and it hires Malibu native Casey Zweig as its new coastal preservation specialist.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
With Papa Jack’s Skate Park looming deadline to vacate its location in the Civic Center by the end of the month, the Malibu City Council on Monday allocated up to $35,000 to be spent on negotiating and signing a short-term lease, permit or agreement to relocate the park by Dec. 1.
If a location is not found by Dec. 1, the council directed that the skate park ramps be moved to the upper parking lot above city hall.
Developer Steve Soboroff, who wants to build a Whole Foods Market as well as four other buildings at the corner of Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road, served the city, which has leased the site for the past 12 years at $1 per year, a 90-day eviction notice in mid-December. However, he extended the time for the skate park to leave until the end of October so the city would be able to find a new location, and donated money toward the effort.
Some sites bandied about as temporary locations for the skate park ramps include the Bluffs Park parking lot and the Malibu Boys and Girls Club site at Malibu High School. City Manager Jim Thorsen said the city was closely monitoring three potential sites, and that having the authority to sign the lease would allow him to move quickly to limit the time the park is closed.
The $35,000 figure approved by the council includes $10,000 of city funds and a $25,000 donation from Soboroff.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich and Mayor Pro Tem Laura Rosenthal expressed hope that an agreement could be reached on a permanent site before the Dec. 1 deadline. In particular, possible permanent sites suggested include the west end of the Zuma Beach parking lot as well as Bluffs Park, although not in the parking lot.
According to a city staff report, Malibu Parks and Recreation Director Bob Stallings met with Los Angeles County Beaches and Harbors Deputy Director Kerry Silverstrom to discuss the possible use of the Zuma Beach site. The staff report stated that county staff “was receptive to the idea and requested time to fully vet the city’s request before committing to relocation.”
The cost of moving the ramps has been projected to range between $15,000 and $50,000. According to the staff report, this may include “fencing, windscreens, resurfacing, access gates, relocation of ramps and office trailer, and utility connections.” Staff will present a budget to the City Council for approval before moving.
City must pay $37,000
as part of lawsuit
City Attorney Christi Hogin announced that the city would unexpectedly have to pay $37,322.48 due to wide-ranging class action lawsuits that charged the telecommunications company AT&T Mobility for taxing its customers for data plans in violation of the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Hogin said the act prohibits taxation of wireless internet.
Malibu has a utility user tax that taxes certain actions such as cell phone use. Hogin said the utility companies, such as AT&T Mobility, collect those taxes for the city in their bills. Between 2005-2010, the company remitted $99,920 to the City of Malibu in erroneous taxes from its Malibu customers.
“What was showing up on the bills were things like data packages,” Hogin said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Malibu Times. “It wasn’t easy to tell if the bill was [Internet] data or telephone.”
The improper charges included iPhone, Blackberry and other smart phone data plans. Malibu customers of AT&T, and possibly Cingular (which purchased AT&T in 2004 and later took on the AT&T name), between 2005 and 2010 are eligible for the refund.
As part of the settlement for the lawsuits, AT&T sued the various cities and local governments for which they charged the utility user’s tax, including Malibu, to get the amounts refunded.
Hogin said the city had negotiated an agreement to refund $37,322 to Malibu residents who been overcharged; AT&T would repay the rest. Ultimately, Hogin said residents will get the full $99,920 back in whatever measure they paid it.
Hogin added that she had been told that some 10 to 15 percent of the checks mailed out to customers often go uncashed. In that case, she expected the city to recoup 10 to 15 percent of the $37,322.
Hogin said the city was working on signing a final agreement with the carriers.
City hires new employee
Malibu native Casey Zweig was introduced as the city’s new coastal preservation specialist.
Zweig is a Malibu High School graduate with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and policy from Duke University. The position will be funded through June 2014 with $140,000 of Proposition 84 state grant money.
Zweig will conduct public outreach and education to residents in Malibu’s Area of Special Biological Significance (ASBS), an area designated by the state in the 1970s as special habitat. The Malibu ASBS stretches from Latigo Point 11 and a half miles to the western city limits to Point Mugu. Zweig will work to educate residents on low-impact development, ocean-friendly gardens and runoff reduction.
“It’s great that we’re going to be getting somebody doing outreach and education to residents who knows the residents,” Mayor John Sibert said.