Permit streamlining, coastal plan, top priorities, Council says

By The Malibu Times · Thu Aug 05 1999

Making it easier to get a planning permit and getting the Local Coastal Plan to the California Coastal Commission top the City Council's priorities for the coming fiscal year. Even clarifying rural residential zones to include roosters, so rooster owners would not be cited under noise ordinances, as Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Van Horn requested, will have to wait until these constituent and Coastal Commission demands are met, the council voted.

Meeting last week for its fiscal 1999 fourth quarter review, the council made the following, mostly unanimous, motions as it discussed reports from the Building & Safety, Planning, Public Works, Parks & Recreation, and Finance departments, and from the interim City Attorney, the City Clerk and the City Manager.

• Not to offer help with any legislation similar to Assembly Bill 885, which mandated statewide septic system standards, and which was recently scuttled by the state Legislature, unless the city lobbyist recommends city involvement. (Joan House motion, 5-0 vote)

• To direct the Local Coastal Plan Commission to complete its report by Sept. 30 or relinquish control of developing the plan to the City Council. (House motion, 5-0). Noting LCP commissioner Jo Ruggle's lament that it took the commission consultant three months to produce a work product, the council also voted 5-0 on the Van Horn motion to direct the consultant, in writing, to meet more frequently with the commission. The council also discussed the possibility of sending a draft plan to the Coastal Commission.

• To prioritize the permit streamlining process, before enacting any more laws. (Motion of Tom Hasse, 4 in favor, Van Horn against.) This motion overrode rooster owner Van Horn's request to include roosters and other animals in the rural residential zones, so animal owners will not be cited for noise code violations. This motion also overrode the request of planning commissioners Ruggles and Charleen Kabrin to finalize the tree preservation and exterior lighting ordinances.

• To get written confirmation of the designation of Pacific Coast Highway as a Scenic Highway (Mayor Walt Keller motion, 5-0).

• To get a report on the expense and time involved in city participation in the Annual Golf Classic set for April 3. (House motion, 5-0, after City Manager Harry Peacock expressed concern about setting a precedent of helping nonprofits raise money that might not be returned to the city.)

• Apply the $26,947.99 narcotics forfeiture turned over to the city by the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station both towards more beach patrols during the summer (Peacock's request) and additional traffic enforcement on Point Dume (Keller's request). The motion by Barovsky passed 5-0.

• To write to the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station asking them to limit access to the Point Dume beach because of lack of lifeguards. (Van Horn motion, 5-0).

• To have the Parks & Recreation Department develop a millennium celebration project. (House motion, 5-0).

Other developments

Keller asked for written documentation of city negotiation with the school district for potential park sites. Hasse, who along with Councilman Harry Barovsky serves on the Parks & Recreation Subcommittee, reported that Malibu High School Principal Mike Matthews has plans for expanded athletic facilities at the school.

Parks & Recreation Director Catherine Walter announced:

• The first public workshop on a Parks Master Plan would take place Aug. 5, and there would be a second one in September. Her report to the council says the 20-year plan is to be completed by October 1999.

• There will be a Student Government Day in the spring.

• A house in Las Flores Canyon was due to be inspected Sept. 13. City Manager Harry Peacock said he would get back to the council with a repair estimate. Recreation Supervisor Marilyn Stern has mentioned Las Flores Canyon as a possible site for a Teen Center.

• The Papa Jack Skateboard Park will be open by the end of September.

Lost Hills Sheriff's Station Lt. Thom Bradstock announced that the California Highway Patrol had received $136,569 grant from the state to create a traffic safety corridor along Pacific Coast Highway. About half of that is earmarked for Malibu, Bradstock said.

Hasse asked Interim City Attorney Richard Terzian to research the status of campaign finance ordinances. Hasse also asked City Clerk Virginia Bloom to check current voter registration rules. Peacock announced that focus groups indicate "virtually no community interest" in a community access television studio. He recommended re-evaluating the high school as a facility in six months, since the unexpected application by Charter Communications to buy out Falcon Cablevision will delay renewal of Falcon's cable franchise anyway. Although the city has about $5 million in cash on hand and about $2 million due from the Federal Emergency Management Association, Finance Director William Thomas was guardedly optimistic about the future. He noted the city will lose about $750,000 revenue in motor vehicle and gas taxes, and that FEMA is auditing $1.3 million from the 1993 fire.