Skeptics say they dislike the idea of a wastewater facility at the Chili Cook-Off site. City will make final official vote on the development agreement next week.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to The Malibu Times
At a room-filled rowdy meeting, the Planning Commission on Monday night refused to make a recommendation to the City Council on whether the revised Malibu Bay Company (MBC) Development Agreement is consistent with the city’s General Plan and in the public interest because it said it did not have enough information.
But the commission did make several recommendations to change the agreement, including that one item be removed, which would allow the company to heavily develop the Chili Cook-Off site, located in the Civic Center area.
The City Council met Tuesday night to vote on the new MBC plan and to decide whether it should go on the November ballot. (See story online at www.malibutimes.com later this week.) The council must vote on the plan next week as well to officially put it on the ballot.
Under the original development agreement, Plan A, the MBC would have been able to develop the Chili Cook-Off site, but with Plan B, the city would purchase the land. There, it could build a water treatment facility and a park or other natural features. But the deal stipulates that the city must make the purchase, which it plans to do mostly through loans and grants, in three years. If it fails to do so, the MBC can develop under the original plan.
The commission said this means that a vote for Plan B would essentially also be a vote for Plan A, since A is made possible if B fails.
Although she admitted she did not know if the MBC would do it, Commission Vice Chair Deirdre Roney said this would give incentive for the company to use its influence to make sure the city did not get all of its loans and grants. That way, it could build on the Chili Cook-Off site, as it originally wanted.
The commission rejected the original MBC development agreement in May. Shortly after that, City Attorney Christi Hogin began renegotiating with MBC attorneys to come up with a revised deal. With the new plan, which as of Monday night had not been officially signed, the city would purchase the Chili Cook-Off site, but lose the donation of an 18.87 acre site on Point Dume and $5 million for which it could have built ball fields and a community center. However, under Plan B the company has agreed to construct a 5,000 square foot community center on a portion of the same Point Dume site and give a donation of $2.5 million of which $1.5 million must go toward ball fields and up to $1 million for capital facilities for a urgent care center. The company would develop the rest of the Point Dume site.
“My two concerns [were] very intense over-development and benefits that were stronger for the applicant than for the city,” Commissioner Richard Carrigan said about the original plan. “In my opinion, with Plan B, we have addressed both of those issues.”
But Carrigan said the element of a fallback on Plan A if the city does not come through with the money is unacceptable. He and the other commissioners also said he was disappointed the commission did not get enough information on the new plan, only receiving a six-page staff report.
“Information is the lifeblood of the commission,” Carrigan said. “And, I will say quite frankly, in my three-plus years on the Planning Commission, I have never seen a project submitted to the commission that had less information available.”
A rowdy crowd attended the meeting, mostly made up of people who were either against the plan or at least skeptical of it. Commission Chair Robert Adler had to bang on his gavel a few times to calm them down as they responded to various comments by city staff. Many of them spoke about a dislike of the idea for putting a wastewater treatment facility in a city-owned Chili Cook-Off site.
But Assistant City Attorney Gregg Kovacevich pointed out that a wastewater treatment facility was, in fact, not part of the revised plan. If the city were to go down that route, it would be required to have an environmental review of such a facility and that it go through the planning process. Kovacevich said that the Plan B development agreement only called for the city to purchase the property for $25 million and then have limited options of what could be built there, including a wastewater treatment facility, a people’s park and other various natural entities. With this, Commissioner Roney recommended that the city, when looking for grant sources, not just focus on those willing to give money to it if it buys the site for the placement of a wastewater facility.
Another issue raised at the meeting was whether the item should be placed on the November ballot. The commission suggested that a July 2004 election, the latest allowed under the agreement, would give time for several things to be sorted out, including assurances that the city will be able to get the necessary funding. But City Manager Katie Lichtig said an advantage to a November election would be that it would put the city in a good position when applying for grants.
“The concept of having voter approval is a very advantageous one and it is unusual for jurisdictions to be able to submit grant applications … we will know at that point in time whether they are supported by the voters,” Lichtig said.
Adler also raised a concern about the MBC project’s environmental impact report (EIR). The commission never made a decision on it, but the members had numerous concerns, mainly dealing with traffic. Interim Planning Manager Ed Knight said the city had addressed those concerns and late questions received by the public, and the revised EIR would be ready for Tuesday’s, July 22, council decision.
“I have a great concern right now about this EIR being ready for certification tomorrow night,” Adler said. “I think that’s a very risky move. It’s too complex of a document.”
All the city councilmembers attended the meeting except for Jeff Jennings. Careful not to speak with one another, as it would be a violation of the Brown Act, the councilmembers sat quietly in the back of the room to see what the commission would recommend they do just one day later. As it became obvious through their statements that the commissioners would not be supporting the plan, the councilmembers slowly left. Mayor Ken Kearsley exited shortly before an official decision was made.
Malibu Bay Company Development Agreement
Plan A
This plan would go into effect if the city does not purchase the Chili Cook-Off site within three years
-Chili Cook-Off site is developed
-MBC donates entire 18.87-acre Point Dume site for ball fields and community center
-MBC donates $5 million for ball fields and a community center.
Plan B
-City purchases Chili Cook-Off site for $25 million within three years
-MBC constructs a 5,000-square-foot community center at Point Dume
-MBC would develop its remaining Point Dume property under the current zoning laws
-MBC donates $2.5 to the city, of which $1.5 million must go toward ball fields and up to $1 million for capital facilities for an urgent care center.
-MBC commits itself to building a new urgent care facility on the St. John’s site
-MBC grants a conservation easement in Trancas Creek for creek restoration and construction of a footbridge that will link trails from the commercial site to a path leading to the beach
-Architect Ed Niles’ design will be used for the Trancas commercial property
-If the city is unable to purchase the Chili Cook-Off property in three years, Plan A goes into effect
*There is additional development included in both agreements that is the same. It includes development on the MBC’s Ioki and Island sites. Also, there are plans for commercial and residential development on its Trancas property.