The City Council will revisit a proposed lease swap on Tuesday that would give Malibu control of the 83-acre Bluffs Park in exchange for 532-acre Charmlee Wilderness Park for up to five years.
“If at the end of five years each party is satisfied with [the swap] and still wants to own the property and is happy with it, they could then exchange titles,” City Attorney Christi Hogin said Monday.
Supporters of the trade covet Bluffs Park as a potentially valuable asset in creating more athletic and recreational fields for public use, something many residents believe the city lacks. But swap opponents fear handing over control of Charmlee would increase potential wildfire risks in Malibu if the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) builds campsites at Charmlee, which the conservancy has pledged to do.
A city report released last Friday estimates that developing Bluffs Park into a sports complex could cost $4 to $5 million, with baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball courts, picnic areas and a skate park listed as possible amenities.
Construction and permitting could take up to three years, according to the staff report, which was prepared by City Attorney Christi Hogin and City Manager Jim Thorsen.
Any potential development would take place only if titles are swapped after the five-year lease term.
Bluffs Park contains 35 acres of developable land, according to a 2010 biological study approved by the Cal i fornia Coastal Commission (CCC). The potential map shows 40 campsites—a long-held desire of SMMC Executive Director Joe Edmiston. Edmiston has vowed to press forward with the campsites at Bluffs if the city chooses not to pursue a lease exchange.
Because of a shortage of sports field and court space in Malibu, the City of Malibu pays $210,000 annually to rent facilities owned by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
“Currently, city-operated programs such as lacrosse, T-ball, flag football and adult softball account for approximately 20% of the field uses. The remaining 80% of field uses are utilized by Malibu sports leagues including AYSO and Malibu Little League,” the staff report states.
But the lease swap is just part of the proposed deal. The deal hinges on the city settling a long-running lawsuit with the conservancy over the uses in Ramirez Canyon Park, also known as the former Streisand Property.
If the City Council agrees to settle the suit and move forward with the trade at next Tuesday’s meeting, Hogin would begin negotiations with the SMMC for the swap to be complete by January 2014.
City staff began preparing the latest report in January after the City Council unanimously voted 5-0 to consider the land swap. Council members also directed city staff to research possible uses, developable acreage, fire risks and monetary impacts associated with the potential deal.
Discussions leading up to the swap proposal are currently the subject of an ongoing lawsuit brought by the Malibu Township Council against the City Council. MTC alleges council members violated open meeting laws by showing favoritism for the swap and negotiating on the city’s behalf in December before a public hearing was held in January. A trial is expected to begin in mid- 2014.
Fire risks and history assessed
With Edmiston openly planning to build eight campsites at Charmlee if the SMMC gains the lease, many swap opponents said they were alarmed at the risk of those campsites sparking devastating wildfire.
At a meeting in January, the City Council asked staff to research local wildfire history and causes. In this latest report, city staff says it found no local wildfires have been sparked by a legal campsite.
“It has been documented that there have been dozens of large wildfires within the Santa Monica Mountains area over the last 75 years…based upon the information available, it does not appear that any of the documented wildfires within this region have been initiated by campers at a legal campsite,” the staff report stated.
If the swap is not executed, the city’s staff report predicts that Edmiston will likely construct 40 campsites at Bluffs Park.