The new manager faces significant planning issues including the MBC Development Agreement and the ongoing saga over the Local Coastal Plan.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to the Malibu Times
After nearly a six-month search, Malibu finally has its first permanent planning manager. Michael Teruya was formerly introduced to the City Council and the Planning Commission at meetings this past week. He replaces Ed Knight, who had held the position on an interim basis since it was created in March. Knight is headed to the City of Orange, where he will work as a consultant on the development of a planned community.
Teruya spent the last four years as the assistant director for Planning and Economic Development in the city of Los Angeles. Prior to that, he was director of Planning and Strategic Development for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office.
Teruya has worked in several other municipalities, including the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii where he was a senior planner. Teruya is a graduate of the University of Hawaii, earning a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s degree in urban planning.
The planning manager heads the Planning Division, which
is part of the Environmental
and Community Development Department. Previously, a planning director had led the Planning Department.
However in March, following Drew Purvis’ resignation as the city’s sixth planning director in 12 years, planning was combined with the Environmental and Building Safety Department to form the new department.
Teruya takes his new position at a time when there are numerous significant planning issues at the forefront of the Malibu political scene.
The city remains in a lawsuit with the California Coastal Commission over its Local Coastal Plan, which has virtually stalled coastal development in Malibu. More than 150 applicants have been unable to get coastal permits, and likely will not be able to obtain them until the lawsuit
is settled. Environmental and Community Development Director Vic Peterson said the situation has made it so that planning applications in general are at the lowest level they have been in several years.
Also, the City Council approved the Malibu Bay Company (MBC) Development Agreement last month. It will go before the voters in November.
Two other development deals will be going before the Planning Commission and eventually the City Council in the next year. In his final appearance, Knight said at Monday’s Planning Commission meeting that the Screencheck Environmental Impact Report (EIR), which is the version reviewed by city staff, for the Schultz Development Agreement has been put out. It will circulate among staff for four weeks and then be given to the consultant on the project.
The EIR would then be available for public review sometime in November or December. Public hearings before the Planning Commission could begin 45 days later. Knight said the Screencheck EIR for the La Paz Development Agreement would be coming out in the next few weeks.
The Schultz Development Agreement would allow for the construction of two commercial complexes that total 40,045 square feet at the northwest corner of Cross Creek Road and Civic Center Way.
The La Paz agreement would give way for the building
of commercial and retail development at a site between La Paz Lane and Civic Center Way. Also, the new City Hall could be located there.