The council also directed city staff to begin the process for the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Corral Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway.
By Jonathan Friedman/Assistant Editor
By a vote of 4-1, the Malibu City Council passed the first reading of an ordinance on Monday that would prohibit the use of plastic foam, commonly known by the trademark name, Styrofoam. The dissenting vote came from Councilmember Jeff Jennings, who said the proposal was unenforceable and suggested a better idea would be a more gradual approach to ridding the city of the material that is used to make cups and containers.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich also voiced opposition to the proposal, but voted in favor of it because she said she would listen to restaurant owners and others who want to speak on the item on Feb. 28 when the proposal goes before the council for a second reading and final adoption. She said she could vote against the proposal then. Mayor Pro Tem Andy Stern said he could also be persuaded to alter the proposal. If approved, the law would go into effect on July 1.
The plastic foam ban was proposed last year by former city council candidate John Mazza, who said the material was a harmful pollutant to the city’s beaches. City Clerk Lisa Pope researched the issue and reported to the council on Monday that there was a precedent to outlawing plastic foam, with Portland, Ore. having eliminated its use citywide, and other counties and cities having made it illegal to have on government property and for government functions.
Councilmember Ken Kearsley said he supported the prohibition, and said there were better alternatives to plastic foam out there. Jennings said that might be the case, but said he preferred first banning it only for city functions and city venues. He said a proposal could then be made to the Los Angeles County Beach Commission, of which he and Stern are members, to ban plastic foam. This could be followed by a discussion with restaurant owners on how to gradually move away from using the material
The California Restaurant Association and the American Plastics Council sent letters to the city prior to the meeting to request that the issue be put on hold until they could speak with the city. Jennings said the council should at least wait to hear from these groups before making a decision. But Mayor Sharon Barovsky said the more important issue was that no local restaurant owners demanded to speak about it, despite it appearing on an agenda that was made public more than a week prior to the meeting. Jennings said this did not mean much.
“The general public does not have a terrific idea of what is going to be on the agenda,” he said. “It’s not widely publicized.”
Jennings said he was also troubled that the city would not have the resources to enforce the ban.
“It may end up being a largely symbolic gesture,” Jennings said. “I hate symbolic gestures.”
According to the proposal, a first-time violation would be penalized by a $100 fine. The penalty would increase to $200 with a second violation. A third violation and all subsequent ones in a 12-month period would lead to $500 fines.
Signal proposal gets green light
Community activist Theresa Tuchman joyfully cried after the council unanimously gave staff the go ahead to begin planning for the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Corral Canyon Road and Pacific Coast Highway. Tuchman has been trying for several years to get the state to approve the installation of the signal for an intersection she says is dangerous for pedestrians. The California Department of Transportation, which operates Pacific Coast Highway, recently said the intersection had the necessary amount of traffic to warrant a signal.
Caltrans will contribute $120,000 to the project. The city will provide another $80,000, which will come from Malibu’s $320,000 in grant funds it has received from the federal government for projects related to Pacific Coast Highway. Caltrans would have paid for the project in full, but only if it were given full control, and it would take three to four years. In contrast, according to the city, if the city pays for part of the project, it can take over the design and construction responsibilities, and reduce the implementation period to 18 to 24 months.
Public Safety Commissioner Ryan Embree questioned if the money for this project would be better used for other purposes. He pointed to the fact that although Caltrans determined the intersection had the necessary amount of traffic to warrant a signal, it did meet the standard for a number of accidents. Councilmember Kearsley said there were enough accidents there in his opinion to warrant a signal.
“We had one major accident there last year…I thank by the grace of God that we didn’t have a fatality on that,” Kearsley said. “It’s something that we need.”
City Manager Katie Lichtig said the council was not obligated to use its federal funds for the project. But she pointed out that the project was given No. 1 priority status by the Public Safety Commission, of which Embree is a member, in its Pacific Coast Highway Turn Improvement Feasibility Study. The study was approved by the city council in September.
“If you’re going to set priorities, at least from a staff prospective, we thought you should start by implementing project No. 1 and expedite that process,” Lichtig said.