Although many have come to a compromise on the issue, there are still some who disapprove of the use of any night lights at the high school’s athletic field.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu High School football team is a step closer to getting to play at night again. A majority of the Planning Commission last week on Tuesday voted to recommend temporary lights be used at the high school’s main athletic field 16 nights per year. The recommendation will be forwarded to the city council and later the California Coastal Commission. Both bodies must support the recommendation for it to become law.
The Coastal Commission last fall rejected the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s request to use temporary lights 16 nights per year because the city’s Local Coastal Program does not allow it. The Planning Commission’s recommendation is to amend the LCP to permit the lights.
Since the school district first announced its plan for permanent lights to shine for more than 200 nights per year on a redesigned Malibu High field, several residents in the neighborhood have been aggressively fighting against the use of any lights. The school district and most SMMUSD advocates have, at least publicly, withdrawn support for the 200-night concept. And most support the 16-night proposal. Several people in the Malibu Park neighborhood have also changed their public support from no nights of light to 16 nights.
“I think this is a great example of how all the groups can come together and compromise,” said education activist Laura Rosenthal while addressing the commission during public comment. Rosenthal sits on the Measure BB committee, which makes recommendations on how the district uses the capital improvement money it received from a 2006 bond measure. She said she once supported the plan for 200 nights, but now no longer does.
Rosenthal is also a candidate for city council. She was one of six in the race who spoke at the meeting last week. Planning Commission Chair Ed Gillespie and Planning Commission Vice Chair John Mazza are also running. Candidates Steve Scheinkman, Mike Sidley and Matthew Katz also spoke during public comment. Five of the candidates favored the 16-night plan. Katz was the lone exception.
“I played football in high school …we played during the day,” Katz said. “The Rose Bowl is during the day. Why do we need night games at all?”
The Malibu Park resident added that those who are not residents of the neighborhood have no right to have a say in the matter. “They’re not the ones who have to suffer through the noise and the lights,” Katz said.
At the recommendation of Assistant City Attorney Gregg Kovacevich, football was not specified in the recommendation. This prevents any issues arising regarding Title IX, which is the U.S. law requiring gender equality in academic activities, and commonly associated with sports. This could also allow for other sports such as soccer to hold some night games.
Commissioner Regan Schaar was the lone voice in opposition to the Planning Commission’s recommendation. She called it too “restrictive,” using that word more than a dozen times throughout the three and a half hour hearing. She wanted at least 25 nights per year of lights.
“I just feel like this is restricting once again, backing us into a kid-unfriendly City of Malibu,” said Schaar, who added that youth sports advocates got “bullied” into supporting the 16-night concept.
Schaar’s colleagues said to recommend more nights created a risk that the school would end up receiving no nights.
“If we start getting that number very large, then you’re going to get huge resistance from the neighborhood, and it won’t pass Coastal [Commission],” Mazza said. “And it may not pass the city council. So we have to be reasonable because if this gets killed at city council or coastal, they’re not playing [night] football for a couple years.”
Although a majority of the public speakers supported the 16-night plan, there were some detractors. Malibu Township Council President Steve Uhring said, “The school board can’t be trusted,” and that SMMUSD officials would search for a way to add more nights. Carol Gable, who lives near Malibu High, said there should be no lights at all in the interest of “wildlife, public safety and the quiet enjoyment of our neighborhood, especially our dark, starry skies.” Gable claimed to have recently seen a disoriented owl in her eucalyptus tree following a night game.
Malibu High School had been lighting its athletic field for night football games for many years. This has actually been a violation of a Coastal Commission permit. When the Coastal Commission approved a permit for the upgrading of Malibu High’s athletic complex in 2000, athletic field lighting was banned, although the district never actually requested a permit for lighting. There were a few complaints from neighbors about the illegal night games, but nobody put up much of a fight. This changed when the district announced its intention for the 200-night plan.