Enviro groups appeal Legacy Park EIR
The Planning Commission’s Jan. 21 approval of the environmental impact report for the Legacy Park project is being appealed by four environmental groups who say the project as designed will not meet water quality standards. The park’s design phase is scheduled to begin this year, but the appeal will be reviewed and heard by the city council in the near future.
Santa Monica Baykeeper, Heal the Bay, Surfrider Foundation and the Malibu Surfing Association contend that the EIR certified by the Planning Commission fails to meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. A bone of contention for the environmental groups is that the Legacy Park plan does not address wastewater treatment, having only a plan for a storm water treatment facility, and that the EIR is inadequate. City officials say the EIR meets all required standards, and that wastewater treatment will be addressed in the future.
The EIR states Legacy Park will improve the effectiveness of the current storm water facility on Civic Center Way by increasing bacterial TMDL (total maximum daily load) compliance to 100 percent. The park’s other benefits, the EIR states, include the creation of important natural habitats and the recycling of nearly all effluent expected from the Lumber Yard mall.
Also included in Legacy Park’s EIR is the development of a linear park on a median to be located on the north side of Civic Center Way. This linear park would include improvements to collect storm water and convey it to the Legacy Park site.
Planning Commission approves pot dispensary
The Planning Commission at its Feb. 3 meeting approved a conditional use permit allowing the operation of PCH Collective, a medical marijuana dispensary, in an existing building located at 22605 Pacific Coast Highway, which is where Pacific Coast Greens, D’Amore’s Pizza and other businesses are located.
PCH Collective is the first medical marijuana dispensary to be issued a conditional use permit in Malibu since the adoption of Ordinance No. 328. The approved permit location is not within a 1,000-foot radius of any other medical marijuana dispensary located within or outside the city.
PCH Collective will occupy one 660-square foot unit of the existing duplex structure that consists of a waiting room, a reception room, a restroom, a medicine room and an office. The permit does not allow additional plumbing fixtures or structural development to the unit’s current utilities.
The dispensary will sell merchandise that includes medical marijuana in the form of dried plant, edibles and concentrates, pipes, water pipes, rolling papers and vaporizers. Two employees will be present during hours of operation, one of which is a security guard. The hours of operation are Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Prior to approval by the Planning Commission, PCH Collective had been operating for more than two years at a previous location that was located approximately 300 feet east of its new one. No complaints from the public have been reported to or observed by city code enforcement at the current or previous location.
Mariposa Land Company pulls application
Mariposa Land Company last week withdrew its application to the California Coastal Commission for permanent placement of rock rip-rap revetment located along Malibu Creek, behind the Cross Creek Shopping Plaza.
The application, for which the Coastal Commission approved permits in 1998, was to be decided upon in a Feb. 4 Coastal Commission meeting. It was postponed to Feb. 5 before it was withdrawn. Coast Commission staff had recommended approval of the application.
Mariposa Land Company was requesting authorization to permanently retain approximately 500 linear feet of rock rip-rap revetment that was installed along the west bank of lower Malibu Creek to protect an existing commercial development from flood waters.
Environmental group Heal the Bay opposed the project because they believed it would degrade water quality and critical habitat for endangered species such as steelhead trout and the tidewater goby.
The revetment consisted of 1,500 tons of 0.5 to 8-ton granite boulders placed 14 feet to 16 feet in height. Mariposa Land Company also proposed to revegetate the revetment site with willow bundles and riparian plant species.
It is not known why Mariposa had withdrawn its application.
Peter Bogdanovich to be awarded by Method Fest
The Method Fest film festival will present special awards to director Peter Bogdanovich and actress Tanna Frederick in a special ceremony Feb. 26 at Pierce College’s Performing Arts Center in Woodland Hills. Following the presentation of the awards, the Method Fest will announce the films selected to screen in the March 26 – April 2 festival in Calabasas.
Bogdanovich will receive The Method Fest’s “Auteur Director Award,” while Frederick will be presented the “Performer to Watch Award,” Don Franken, Method Fest executive director, said.
Bogdanovich directed such films as “The Last Picture Show,” “What’s Up, Doc?” “Paper Moon,” “Mask” and “The Cat’s Meow.” He also directed six actors to Oscar-nominated performances, is a Method-trained actor, and a prolific writer and film historian who befriended cinema icons like Orson Welles, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Renoir.
Frederick rose to prominence for her title role in Henry Jaglom’s “Hollywood Dreams,” a mildly satirical view of the deceptions of the film industry, for which she received the Best Actress Award at the Montana and Fargo film festivals. Frederick stars in Jaglom’s new film, “Irene in Time,” which opens on May 29 at several Laemmle theaters in the Los Angeles area. Recently Frederick has begun work on her third film with Jaglom, “Queen of the Lot,” a sequel to “Hollywood Dreams.”
More information can be obtained by visiting www.methodfest.com.
-Olivia Damavandi