Much misleading information is circulating in Malibu over Measure M. The following is my personal view of the important issues:
On the plus side: The City can obtain the Chili Cook-off site which will provide for a Civic Center that the City can shape in positive ways. Concerns have been raised over Chili being overvalued at $25 M. I don’t know whether that is true or whether a better deal could have been negotiated. As long as the city gets what it wants and needs, I don’t much care what profit Perenchio might make.
The city can finally address wastewater disposal in a rational manner in the most sensitive and congested area of Malibu. Again there are a number of unknowns regarding what can be done with the Title 22 treated water, but I have no doubt that these are solvable problems.
The city would end up with a development plan that provides some certainty for commercial and residential development of important parts of Malibu with lower square footage of commercial development than could (not would!) have been developed if it occurred piecemeal. Traffic will be a problem, but a large fraction of our problem is Z traffic during the week and beach traffic on weekends. Neither is closely tied to this development.
There are two issues that give me some heartburn: The failure of the city to purchase the Chili Cook-Off site within three years could lead to the restoration of the Development Agreement that was rejected by the Planning Commission for reasons too numerous to reiterate here. It does not provide for the acquisition of the Chili Cook-Off or the appropriate treatment of wastewater in the Civic Center and it adds more commercial development eliminating or attenuating the above pluses.
The EIR and its applicability to Measure M are of some concern. There were enough unanswered internal inconsistencies, from water and wastewater to traffic and policing, that I felt that the EIR was unacceptable. However, the actual projects developed in any plan will still have to satisfy further environmental review.
Measure M could provide a lot of benefits for Malibu without significant downside. However the uncertainty resulting from a flawed and hasty process could also lead to a much less attractive outcome. If Measure M passes, the ultimate result will depend on our elected officials and a concerted effort by the city to find the money and work constructively with MBC. And that does require a lot of trust!
John Sibert
Planning Commissioner