From the Publisher/Arnold G. York
In Sacramento on Feb. 20, the governor affixed his signature to a legislative bill that supposedly attempts to fix the legal problems raised when the Court of Appeals decided the California Coastal Commission was unconstitutional as presently constituted. At least that’s what the Legislature and the governor are hoping.
According to the newly signed bill, which is set to take effect in approximately 90 days, the four appointments to the California Coastal Commission made by the speaker of the Assembly and the four made by the president pro tem of the Senate will ultimately serve four-year terms and thereby, the authors hope, satisfy the court, which was concerned the Legislature previously controlled the panel. The problem is that no one knows if it will work and, until the California Supreme Court decides one way or another, everything is still very much up in the air. By not dealing with the objection that the Legislature still controls eight out of the 12 seats on the Coastal Commission, and by refusing to surrender any of its power (i.e., giving the governor the majority on the commission), the Legislature has decided to engage in a game of chicken with the court. No one knows if it will get away with it, and the California Supreme Court has roughly until early May to decide if it wants to hear the appeal of the Marine Forests versus California Coastal Commission case, which is the case that declared the Coastal Commission unconstitutional.
The Malibu Pier
Things are finally happening and it looks like the pier almost has a new concessionaire. After a public bidding process, the California Department of State Parks, owner of the pier, picked Malibu’s own Jefferson Wagner, better known as Zuma Jay. It’s not absolutely final yet, and the state is in the process of doing its due diligence so to speak, but Jefferson and his partner, Alexander Leff, also of Malibu, and another money partner who wishes not to be named, are obviously very serious because they’ve put $2.1 million into escrow, which is no small change. Although many looked at the deal, Jefferson and his partners are the only ones who actually put in a final bid. As Jefferson explained it to me, it might be six or seven years before they break into the black, but he estimates that after that it should be very profitable for the rest of the 20-year lease. Most of the potential bidders apparently thought that was too long to wait before seeing a return on their money and opted out. No decision has yet been made about who will be the restaurant operator, and there is a local still in the running for that. However, whichever restaurant operator gets it, it’s going to take significant bucks, because they’re going to have to put in a major part of the $1.5 million or so in tenant improvements that are required. They’re also negotiating to try and get the Alice’s name back, and there are also plans in the works for how they’re going to handle the wastewater and the parking problems, which were major limiting factors in the deal. Everyone is hoping the deal will be finalized by the end of March.
Windsail Restaurant and Spa
Things are also moving on at the old Windsail Restaurant site. Weintraub Financial bought the property and wants to tear it down and rebuild it, slightly larger and put both a restaurant and day spa into the building. It’s particularly important to them because they’re the same folks who are putting together the hotel deal at Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon Road, what used to be called the Adamson Hotel. With the Windsail site and beachfront under their wing, it may solve the hotel’s problem of having no beach access and would make the hotel a far more attractive package. There is also a rumor floating around that a well-known celebrity couple are interested in operating the restaurant and the day spa.