Inside this story:
- Will the city be forced to create acres of parking lot on new land purchased at Point Dume?
- Governor Jerry Brown signs law regulating residential rehabs
- City pledges to fight power company plans to shut off energy during storms
Less than three months after Malibu City Council members unanimously seemed to quash the idea of an all-out ban on short-term rentals in the City of Malibu, the ban appears to be back on the table. The full ban on vacation rentals was first suggested by the city’s planning commission during a hearing earlier in 2018.
In July, council asked city staff to draw up a draft ordinance restricting vacation rentals in the city; now, that ordinance is on the back burner.
On Wednesday night, Sept. 26, at the end of an hours-long hearing on proposed new regulations for vacation rentals in the city, council asked city staff to gather information pertaining to how a ban would work—including the financial implications and likelihood it would even pass muster with the public access-minded California Coastal Commission. The main argument was that the ban is already technically part of the city’s zoning laws, because short-term rentals could be considered commercial ventures.
“I think [Planning Commissioner] John Mazza came up with some interesting points that I want to run by [Assistant City Attorney] Trevor [Rusin],” Mayor Rick Mullen said. “If we go to the Coastal Commission and say, ‘Hey, we want to monkey around with our local coastal program and we’ve done it this way, what do you think?’ they would go, ‘Well, here’s what we think, and it’s a lot different than what you think.’
“But if we say, ‘This was not allowed in our land use plan, which was written by you and approved by you, and we control what happens in this city, and maybe we’ll come back to you with a proposal to change something,’ then we have the control and they don’t have the control, is that correct?” Mullen asked Rusin.
Rusin replied, saying the city could face issues because a precedent of allowing the rentals has been set over many years.
“We may have some trouble considering the history of allowing short-term rentals in the city —that we’re enforcing things arbitrarily or we’re not being consistent in enforcing things in our code,” he replied.
Later in the hearing, Mullen requested city staff and the city attorney’s office—specifically City Attorney Christi Hogin—provide information about possible legal issues.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with preparing for the alternate course. It’s not like we’re going to take this [proposed ordinance] and put it in the shredder,” he said.
“I agree, and I think it’s important for us to look at the financial implications of this,” Council Member Laura Rosenthal replied, “not only for the city, but we need to hear from our businesses. I think the impact of losing $2 million a year, and we just spent $42 million, is a little scary to me.”
She also cautioned about the coastal commission’s history of favoring vacation rentals in coastal zones.
“I think it is important not to put a ban in until we hear—get the research back as well as hear from the coastal commission, because that would really be money thrown away, if we ban it and the coastal commission just laughs in our face and says, ‘That ain’t gonna happen,” Rosenthal said.
In the end, Mullen, alongside Council Member Skylar Peak and Mayor Pro Tem Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner, voted in favor of requesting more information from staff; Rosenthal and Council Member Lou La Monte voted against.
As La Monte pointed out, he and Rosenthal were nearing the end of their terms on council.
“Can everybody just continue what they’re doing until this finally is brought back, discussed, et cetera, et cetera?” La Monte said. “Odds are, Laura and I won’t be there when that’s happening, so that’ll be your problem.”
Debate Begins Over How to Use City’s Newly Acquired Land
It should have come as no surprise that parking lots would be required on all three of the City of Malibu’s newly acquired open space lots, recently purchased from Malibu Bay Co. to the tune of $42.2 million. That is because millions of dollars in grant money that went toward the purchase came from Metro, which attached that requirement.
Now, the city is anticipating pushback from community members who may be opposed to parking—especially the two acres that will be required on the 18.48-acre Christmas Tree Lot property along Pacific Coast Highway near Heathercliff Road. But as Rusin confirmed, the city can always give the money back.
“Those funds do have strings attached to them, that if those funds are used, they have to be used for transportation purposes,” Rusin described. “In terms of accepting the funds, there are some protections … If we decide the project is different from that, there would be some options potentially for returning the grant funds to use it for other purposes, but, since those funds were used that was included in our analysis when we did purchase the property.”
One potential use for the land could be a loan—or trade—with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which, according to City Manager Reva Feldman, has expressed desire to use part of the Christmas Tree Lot as a staging area. Rosenthal proposed a possible trade, perhaps allowing some of the county’s civic center land to be used by the city.
Governor Signs Rehab Restriction Bill
The hard work of La Monte paid off Wednesday as he announced the signing of Assembly Bill 3162: Alcoholism or drug abuse treatment facilities. The bill, which came about after intense lobbying by La Monte and the City of Malibu, places more restrictions on residential rehab facilities—dozens of which Malibu is home to—including increasing penalties for violations.
“I just wanted to say that legislative sessions are two years long, and we used every minute of these two years with two days to spare—it ends on Friday,” La Monte said. “But we went through the assembly, all the committees there, the senate and all the committees there and finally to the governor’s signature.
“So, the way rehabs are run are going to be different starting Jan. 1, and it’s going to affect all our neighborhoods—you’re going to see the difference,” La Monte continued.
The bill, which will become effective statewide on Jan. 1, is missing one key provision from the original draft of the bill: a limitation on proximity of rehabs in order to crack down on “overconcentration.” That language was struck from the bill this spring as it made its way through committees. The new law will focus mainly on license violations.
“This bill would make an initial license for a new facility issued by the department to a provider provisional for one year and revocable for good cause, as defined,” the analysis for the new bill provided by legislative counsel’s digest, describes. “The bill would require licensed services offered or provided by a licensed alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility to be specified on the license and provided exclusively within either the licensed facility or any facility identified on a single license by street address. The bill would increase the penalties for a violation of the licensing and regulatory provisions to not less than $250 or more than $500 per day for each violation, except as specified, and increase the additional penalties for repeat violations, as specified. The bill would prohibit a person or entity found to be in violation of the licensing provisions described above from applying for initial licensure for five years, as specified.”
City Will Join Lawsuit Over Mandatory Power Outages
In a closed session vote before the city council meeting Wednesday, council asked the city attorney’s office to file a petition “challenging the California Public Utilities Commission resolution extending de-energization reasonableness, public notification, mitigation and reporting requirements … to all electric investor-owned utilities,” according to city staff. In essence, the city is challenging the commission’s policy of allowing utility companies to shut off power at will during windy conditions.
The 4-0 vote, with Rosenthal abstaining, comes weeks after local radio station licensee Zuma Beach FM Emergency and Community Broadcasters—associated with KBUU News—filed its own complaint.
In describing the Zuma Beach FM complaint, KBUU General Manager Hans Laetz wrote, “One major contention is that the state failed to consider the environmental impact of forcing thousands of California residents to start up gas powered generators during Santa Ana winds.
“The claim also charges that the impact of shutting down traffic lights, electrical water pumps, sewage systems, the internet and telephone warning systems had not been mitigated by the power companies,” Laetz continued in a newswire posted to radiomalibu.net.
