In order to get a parcel tax passed to help bail out the troubled school district, the council decides to forgo putting a parks and recreation bond on the June ballot.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu City Council made it official Monday that Malibu voters will only have one choice to make on June 3. The council voted unanimously to move a parks and recreation bond election to a yet-to-be determined date, leaving the Santa Monica Unified School District parcel tax as the only item on the summer ballot.
In November, the council created a 10-member committee to create a bond measure to fund parks and recreation projects, with the intention to put the item on the June ballot. At Monday night’s meeting, Planning Commissioner Deirdre Roney asked that the measure not go to the voters in June, saying that putting the two items on the ballot in one election would jeopardize the chances of both for success. Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy made the same request at the Jan. 27 council meeting
Roney said, although she supports both measures, the school crisis is the more immediate concern. The district is facing more than $13 million in budget cuts for the next school year, including layoffs of 207 employee positions and the elimination of programs such as elementary music education. Class size will also increase.
“We live in one of the richest cities in the world,” she said, “and our children will be attending schools comparable to those in impoverished areas.”
Mayor Jeff Jennings said November would not be an appropriate time for the parks election either, because of the Malibu Bay Company election. He agreed with a suggestion made by Roney that the city should look into a special mail-in-ballot election through a Prop 218 mechanism, which would also only require an over-50 percent majority for approval. The council voted unanimously for the bond committee to look into that idea.
Film permit rules revised
The council also revised its film permit distribution policy. The 14-day annual limit remains in place, but film companies can request that amount be extended to 20 days if 100 percent of the people living in a 500-foot radius of the site of filming provide a signature of approval. If that is not successful, the company can appeal to the Planning Commission. Several members of the public spoke at the meeting against a city policy that limits the amount of filming people can do in their home, some calling it unconstitutional.
“If the government can restrict how we live our lives, use our homes; we break the fabric that’s woven our cherished democracy together,” Keith Lehrer said.
The council disagreed with this idea. Barovsky said that when people turn their homes over to film companies for an extended amount of time, then they are transforming it into a business. She said that is a zoning violation. Mayor Pro-Tem Ken Kearsley added that the constitution guarantees liberty, not license.
“To have some libertarian concept that you can do what you want with your property in a residential zone is contrary to the constitution,” he said.
The council also adjusted the maximum amount of helicopter take offs and landings for film shoots to three. It had previously been four. The item passed 4-1, with Jennings voting against it.
Also at the meeting, City Attorney Christi Hogin announced that the city had settled with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy regarding its suit to get back attorney fees, following its victory in a court case involving the Streisand Center. The city will receive $175,000 in repayment fees.
The council also agreed to consider an anti-war resolution on an upcoming agenda, following the request for one by Mona Loo of Malibu Citizens for Peace.