It was 2003 when Malibu’s then city council, which included Joan House, Jeff Jennings and Sharon Barovsky (Do any of these names sound familiar?) negotiated a development agreement with the Malibu Bay Company. The agreement permitted the Bay Company to add over 600,000 square feet of new development to Malibu. It changed Malibu’s General Plan, opening the door for an additional one million square feet of new commercial development in the Civic Center alone.
Concerned that this development agreement would destroy Malibu’s rural character and add an enormous amount of traffic to our already crowded Pacific Coast Highway, we formed the Malibu Community Action Network (Malibu CAN). When the developers launched a heavily funded PR campaign to promote their development, we fought back by educating Malibu voters on the true impacts of this agreement. On Election Day, Malibu wisely voted to reject this development agreement.
Fast forward to 2015 and the situation looks much the same. A development project supported by current and former city council members (Joan House, Jeff Jennings and Sharon Barovsky), is scheduled for a vote this November. Another heavily funded PR campaign paints the development as a friendly neighborhood supermarket when, in fact, it is five-plus acre mall with lots of stores, a fast food restaurant, too much traffic and not enough parking.
With your help, Malibu CAN will continue to focus on educating Malibu voters on the impacts of this development. We believe that the majority of Malibu voters want to protect our rural environment and be responsible custodians of the area’s natural resources for present and future generations. Join with Malibu CAN; help us get the truth out and encourage your friends and neighbors to once again vote wisely this November.
Steve Uhring