The following information is offered in order to inform the public as to how the March 2000 draft Malibu LCP Land Use Plan was developed.
The Malibu Local Coastal Plan Committee was established by the Malibu City Council August 8, 1994. It was formed to serve as an advisory committee to provide technical assistance in the development of the City of Malibu LCP Land Use Plan.
The Committee had ten members, two appointed by each of the five City Council members. Since the process spanned five years and several elections, the individual members changed as the Council changed, so many diverse philosophies were incorporated . Altogether, 18 persons were members of the Committee at various times. All meetings were public noticed and held at the City Office. The Committee met regularly twice a month and completed a series of tasks required for development of the LUP. In the fall of 1996 consultant Paul Crawford was hired to prepare the Local Coastal Plan. He worked with the Committee but did not attend all the meetings.
On March 21, 2000, the Committee unanimously approved an administrative draft LCP Land Use Plan, which was based on an updated version of the L.A. Co. 1986 approved LUP, for submittal to the Coastal Staff, the Malibu Env. Review Bd. and other appropriate agencies for review and comment. None of the various interations of the draft LUPs were distributed to the public, nor were public hearings held. The Planning Director felt to do so would be premature until responses from Coastal staff were received because the draft LUP could change. He didn’t want various iterations of the draft LUP circulating among the public. In March of 2000 the interim Planning Director officially submitted the Administrative draft LUP to Coastal Staff for review. No response or comments were received from Coastal Staff. After the April election 2000, the City Council disbanded the LCP Committee. A phone conversation several months later with Coastal staff confirmed that they were not reviewing the March 2000 draft.
The current City Staff draft LUP may contain portions of the March 2000 draft LUP, but is by no means the draft LUP prepared by the consultant and committee.
The 2001 draft LUP was prepared exclusively by city staff without public input, and until members of the community objected, staff expected the City Council to accept and approve that Draft LUP.
Dr. Werner Koenig
Chairman, former Local Coastal Plan Committee