Controversy raged over the draft design guidelines for the Malibu Civic Center, the 100 or so undeveloped acres in the center of the city, that were introduced to the public at a recent Monday night Planning Commission meeting. Malibu city staff has been working on the design guidelines at the direction of the Malibu City Council.
According to a staff report, the draft guidelines were intended to provide “a mix of uses that are permitted by right” in the Civic Center as they were created in the Malibu General Plan that was adopted in 1995.
Many in the audience saw it quite differently.
There appeared to be three separate groups of opposition at this initial stage. Some were “no-growthers”– simply opposed to any development in the Civic Center whatsoever, some were members from communities that surround the Civic Center area and, lastly, some were from the “bond” group, who are pushing for a $15 million bond issue on the November ballot to buy some of the Civic Center land.
Many who spoke at the meeting complained of inadequate notification (the 20-page staff guidelines only became available Friday before the Monday meeting), bad infrastructure planning (primarily transportation and wastewater) and that the plan would inflate land prices in the Civic Center area, making it difficult for a recently proposed open-land bond measure to succeed.
Proponents of the $15 million bond measure, who are working to get it on the November ballot, were in full force at the meeting. In addition to the above complaints, members of this recently formed bond measure coalition expressed a general overall uneasiness with the idea of any development at all in the Civic Center area.
Also among the opposition was longtime anti-growth activist Patt Healy, with the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth, who came to the meeting with her own seven-page memorandum, outlining reasons why the guidelines should not go forward.
She maintained that the community does not want and does not need this development, and opposing such development is why Malibu became an incorporated city in the first place.
Barry Hogan, Malibu planning director, said the Civic Center draft guidelines are the city staff’s effort to execute the vision of the City Council set forth in the General Plan. The General Plan had been approved in 1995 and permits a certain level of development in the Civic Center. The guidelines represent an attempt to bring some uniformity to that growth, according to the planners.
The Civic Center guidelines propose:
- A mixed use of office, retail, civic, research space and visitor serving. (Staff thought if it was entirely built-out, it might be about 750,000 square feet and opponents thought it might go as high as 1.3 million square feet.)
- Closing and vacating Civic Center Drive near Webster Elementary School
- Removal of Webb Way
- Realigning Pacific Coast Highway and installing a signal by the Ralphs shopping center
- Realigning of Pacific Coast Highway and installing a new signal and left-turn pockets by Malibu Road and Malibu Colony Road
- Public spaces with wetlands
Many Malibu Residents at the meeting called for the Civic Center guidelines to go back to the drawing board.
A lack of adequate notice from city staff was a comment echoed by most of the residents who spoke at the meeting. Planning Commissioner David Fox acknowledged the lack of time for public comment and said, “If there are this many residents raising this issue here at the meeting, I am sure there are a lot more people that feel the same way and would like to take a look at these Civic Center guidelines.”
Some charged that the treatment and disposal of wastewater was not adequately addressed in the guidelines considering the high water table and the wetlands around the proposed development area.
Safety was another concern of some. The draft guidelines calls for some roads to be completely shut down, new signals to be installed on Pacific Coast Highway and road realignments which some residents charged was done to accommodate developers and not the residents of Malibu.
Residents also called the Civic Center guidelines full of holes, and said they did not comply with the General Plan of the City. Interim City Manager Christi Hogin was at the meeting and tried to address some of the residents’ concerns.
“The Civic Center draft guidelines do not change the General Plan nor any city law, and in the agreements the city could potentially make with the developers, a public benefit will come in the form of a City Hall, a Community Center and ball parks,” said Hogin.
Drew Purvis, senior planner, said the Civic Center design guidelines bridge the gap between the General Plan and current development proposals. He described the guidelines as a tool to guide the planning department throughout the development process.
Planning Director Hogan and Purvis presented the Civic Center design and guidelines. City staff stressed that Malibu is only now taking the first step in the Civic Center, and extensive Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) must be done and all potential development must go through the Planning Commission and the City Council before there is any type of groundbreaking.
After extensive comments and Planning Commissioner Andy Stern objecting to the way the Civic Center design and guidelines were being presented to the City Council, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to have city staff include all public comments about the Civic Center design and guidelines in the summary of what they give to the City Council.
The commission also added in their motion to look at the staff write-up of public comments by this Friday, so they could comment on the public comments if necessary before the March 12 City Council meeting when the guidelines will be on the agenda.
Guideline opposition from several groups
By Arnold G. York
Several of Malibu’s political old-timers spoke against the draft guidelines proposed at Monday night’s Planning Commission meeting. From the old “no growth” group came former Planning Commission Chair Jo Ruggles, who was formerly involved in the planning process but has not been active since Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn were defeated for City Council. Ruggles said that the guidelines are “an affront to the community.” Also in opposition was Patt Healy from the Malibu Slow Growth Coalition. From the Malibu Coastal Land Conservancy, Gil Segal, Steve Uhring and Ozzie Silna also objected to the draft guidelines. Georgianna McBurney from the Civic Center, said, “It’s like handcuffing ourselves.” Frank Basso and Efrom Fader of western Malibu also opposed the draft guidelines. Several of those speaking had been involved earlier in opposing various plans that had been proposed over the years for the Civic Center, including the L.A. County Plan, the Calthorpe Plan and the Civic Center Specific Plan, all of which were defeated.