City officials are looking to streamline the process of applications for subdivision.
By Sylvie Belmond/Staff Writer
With fewer and fewer buildable lots left in Malibu, and an interim zoning ordinance originally designed to block or slow down any further development, the Malibu City Council has decided to take another look at subdivision rules.
Last year, the council turned down actor Stacey Keach’s request to split a 5.95 parcel of land into two lots, because one of the lots would have been slightly undersized and on a slope faintly too steep based on the current interim zoning ordinance. The council turned Keach down, but expressed uneasiness that perhaps some of the ordinances were hyper-technical and needed simplification.
“The council then directed planning staff to look at these rules and indicated, when reviewing Keach’s proposal, that the rules may need to be changed,” said Barry Hogan, planning director in a phone interview.
The council proposed changes, which went before the Planning Commission at last week’s meeting for its input. The commission will later report back to council with recommendations.
One possible change in zoning rules would allow property owners to build on parcels of land with slopes at a slightly steeper angle, a 5 percent difference from the current ordinance.
But changes, meant to simplify the subdivision process without eliminating important requirements, do not come without opposition. Critics are concerned the amendments will open the door to more development.
The Planning Commission, as it scrutinized the proposed changes last week, postponed making recommendations until commissioners know how many lots would be affected by any changes.
“We continued these items because we wanted more information about the overall effect that these changes would have,” said Ed Lipnick, commission chair.
Planning commissioner Richard Carrigan was hesitant about the discussed changes.
“I’m not sure at this point how I feel about these proposals,” said Carrigan, who wants more analysis to ensure that relaxing the subdivision and slope density standards will not lead to excessive, additional development.
“It will lead to more development but the question is, will it lead to much more?” he asked.
The slope density change would be the first amendment of the Land Use Element plan in 2001.
Since the city’s incorporation and the General Plan’s establishment, only one property owner, Keach, came to the commission requesting a subdivision. If the council approved the amendment, the new rules may allow Keach to apply for a new parcel map, said planning director Barry Hogan.
The changes staff proposed would revise the land-use implementation of slope density and hillside management and amend property development and design standards that provide slope density requirements for rural residential properties of 1 acre, 2 acres and 5 acres.
The proposed modifications include the application of slope averaging to 15 percent rather than 10 percent.
Currently, the formula is contained in the subdivision ordinance. The changes would place the revised formulas in the zoning ordinance instead, said Hogan.
“This only applies when you are going to divide land,” he said.
The changes would exempt rural residential 10-acre and 20-acre lots from the requirements of slope density if they were being subdivided, because those lots are already large, concluded Hogan.
“That’s kind of a house keeping thing,” said Ken Kearsley, councilmenber. “When we became a city, we adopted all these codes and now it’s time to go back and streamline.
“This goes back a long way,” Kearsley explained. “It’s not because of any given case. This is the beginning of an attempt by the council to make the interim zoning code a more permanent zoning code.”