Détente on park

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Last March, after losing our appeal of the EIR for Trancas Park, I wrote a letter to the editor pointedly citing remarks made by City Council member Barovsky during the appeal and by Justine Petretti in one of her letters to the editor. As fate would have it, the same week my letter was published, Mrs. Barovsky contacted some community members about meeting to find a compromise solution. Justine invited me to that meeting. Since then I have been somewhat mystified by the many twists and turns that the process has taken, but having read the most recent staff report with recommendations for modifications to the park plan, I think the time has come for an apology.

First and foremost, I’d like to commend Sharon Barovsky for opening the door to changing the park design after it had been approved. I would also like to thank Justine Petretti for including me in the discussion and council member Pamela Ulich for holding another workshop on the park design. I was amazed at the remarkable amount of consensus that came out of that workshop, given how contentious the issue has been. On many occasions, the dispute has been framed as being “for” or “against” the park. For my part, I wanted a park that was designed to fit the mountainside, rather than one that redesigned the mountainside to fit the park. Such a nuanced view is not so easily conveyed with “for/against” rhetoric.

Many community members have put a lot of effort into this, for which I am very grateful. In particular, I would like to thank Lynn Norton, who has worked tirelessly to promote communication between Malibu West residents, and the City Council and staff. It is my hope that, in the end, we will have a park that will fit both the community’s needs and the mountain’s terrain.

Kim Belvin