Members of the powerful California Coastal Commission encountered protesters last week when they stopped at the Malibu Lagoon on what commission staff called an “informational tour” of controversial Malibu properties.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The powerful California Coastal Commission visited Malibu last Thursday, touring several beach properties that have caused controversy over public access and dominate the statewide perception of the commission’s relationship with Malibu. But it was a stop at the site of the issue most talked about locally, the Malibu Lagoon restoration project, that generated the most heat when commissioners were met at the lagoon by about 30 indignant protesters, who carried signs and pointedly questioned the logic behind the project.
The commission, touring by bus, was scheduled to spend 45 minutes at the lagoon but arrived late and left after only 20 minutes for lunch with Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy head Joe Edmiston at Ramirez Canyon Park.
Whether the presence of the protesters affected that timetable is unclear, but it was a tense atmosphere as Suzanne Goode, senior resource ecologist for California State Parks, gave a talk recounting the history of the lagoon and the proposed restoration efforts while surrounded by protesters.
Goode, one of the designers of the restoration project, described the current lagoon as “essentially a dead zone,” with low levels of oxygen in the water that were harmful to birds and fish. She called the present configuration of the lagoon, which was restored in 1983, unnatural, and said the reshaped lagoon would have better water circulation, which would scour out excess mud in the back of the lagoon and raise the low levels of oxygen in the water.
Goode drew boos from the protestors when she defended the use of bulldozers to reshape the lagoon channels.
“This project cannot be done with teaspoons,” Goode said. “When you have thousands of cubic yards of fill that’s been placed in the area, you need to use the same equipment to remove it as you did to put it in in the first place.”
After concluding her presentation, Goode was peppered with questions from opponents, such as surfing advocate and Malibu City Council candidate Andy Lyon. Several argued that the lagoon is not as unhealthy as Goode claims, and said it can repair itself over time.
“The water’s clean,” protester Steve Dunn said. “There’s no human fecal bacteria in the lagoon.”
“I’m trying to protect our beach and get our surf break back, hopefully get the water cleaned up,” John Baker, who worked as the head lifeguard at Surfrider Beach for 13 years, told The Malibu Times.
The project was approved by the commission in Oct. 2010, and expected to begin June 1, 2011. But a court challenge by opponents resulted in state Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith issuing an injunction last May, which delayed the project for another year. Goldsmith then ruled in Oct. 2011 that the project should proceed.
Marcia Hanscom, who as head of the Wetlands Defense Fund helped lead the original legal opposition to the project, said her group has only raised $2,500 so far toward legal services to appeal the ruling. Hanscom estimates $75,000 is needed to appeal the ruling in court.
The 12-member Coastal Commission has experienced heavy turnover since June, with several new commissioners coming aboard to replace longtime stalwarts such as staunch environmentalist and Malibu resident Sara Wan.
Its tour of Malibu was simply “an informational session” meant to familiarize the new commissioners with Malibu issues, said Jack Ainsworth, senior deputy director for the commission’s South Central Coast office.
“This is a new commission, and there are obviously a lot of controversial and difficult issues here. We want to get them familiar with them,” Ainsworth told The Malibu Times, before noting that “most of [the issues] are in litigation.”
Protester Ted Vaill said the commission’s brief visit was disappointing.
“It was a half-hearted effort to show they were really concerned about the lagoon,” Vaill said.
Not so, said Shelley Luce, Executive Director of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission.
“This is extremely helpful for the ongoing work of the Commission, and helps Commissioners to understand the need for coastal restoration,” Luce wrote in an email to The Malibu Times Tuesday.
Vaill said that Assembly candidate Torie Osborn had said she would stand with him in front of the bulldozers on June 1, when the project is set to begin. Osborn is running for election in the new state Assembly district that includes Malibu.
David Jacobson, a representative of Osborn, confirmed on Monday that if a “time-out” is not taken to review the science used in the original Environmental Impact Report for the project, Osborn would stand in front of the bulldozers on June 1.
Among the protesters Thursday was a man in a 10-foot-tall green frog costume. When asked for his name, the man responded, “A. Frog. And I’m about to be homeless.”
During the commission’s four-hour tour, it also made stops at other contentious sites, such as Carbon Beach and Broad Beach, where a beach restoration project funded by homeowners is being planned.