The Wildlife Road pile of dirt will get a house on top of it.
The drought is ending in a flood … and just in time … Malibu meets its water conservation target.
And the giant metal phallus at Paradise Cove is going to face criminal charges.
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This is Malibu’s only local daily news.
It’s the (((( Tuesday ))) edition … from Radio Malibu …. 97 point 5 K B U.
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[COLD OPEN]
LAMONTE GAVELS
[NATSOUND OF GAVEL]
LOU LA MONTE: “OK, I’m calling to order the city council regular meeting for Monday, February 13th 2017.
“I’m sorry we were just a few minutes late.
“We were in closed session.”
Last night’s Malibu City Council meeting began late.
That’s because there was a performance review for the city manager.
And it took more than 90 minutes.
No word on what was discussed last night … or what city manager Reva Feldman was told by city council members.
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It droned on for hours last night … the dispute on Wildlife Road.
A furious battle between neighbors … and factions … on a Point Dume street.
Richard Sperber has a giant pile of dirt on his lot.
His neighbor has fought plans for the house … to be built on top of the pile of dirt … for years.
It’s been through a half dozen city hearings … and last night … an appeal was back before the city council.
Two Malibu city council members wanted strict interpretation of the city’s zoning code … which says minimal grading.
Jefferson Wagner and Rick Mullen said they could see no compelling reason why homeowner Richard Sperber should have a house on a raised elevation.
Wagner said the big pile of dirt should not have a house on it.
WAGNER :16 QQQ: THAT SHOULDN’T BE THERE.
“It appears to me that there is about 300 yards of fill out there.
“Three hundred cubic yards of fill.
“And when you walk out onto the on the properties, either property, you stand on a pyramid of soil.
“And that shouldn’t be there.”
Councilman Rick Mullen wanted to play it by the book.
MULLEN :20 QQQ: FIT THE TOPOGRAPHY.
“And so, as with my many years in the military, I always go to ‘what do the directives say?’ …
“OK, I went up to the website, and I printed out Grading…
“ ‘Development shall be planned so as to fir the topography.’ “
Councilman Skylar Peake went back and forth between the two sides … two walls over here… natural grade over here … a few inches shaved here and there.
The backyard … shaved six inches in elevation.
A retaining wall changed.
The city council voted 3 to 2 for the revisions.
Mullen and Wagner voted no.
But the matter went on so long that the roomfull of people who wanted to testify about Trancas Field were still waiting at 10:35.
We’ll have that story … tomorrow.
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Big Clay Number 5 is going to court.
The 45-foot high sculpture … which to some looks like a giant metallic phallic symbol …. was built in front of a mansion on Pacific Coast Highway in Paradise Cove .. without city permits.
Did we mention it’s 45 feet high???
In a 28-foot height limit?
The owner … William Bell … has ignored the complaints of neighbors …the city code enforcement efforts … and the city attorney.
His neighbor … Mark Gurvitz … showed up at city hall last night to complain. (pause)
MARK GURVITZ BIG CLAY :11 QQQ:
“Look the went through the process and they lost.
“So at some point, it has got to come down, or I don’t think anyone in this room should even bother to apply for a permit, just do what you want. because no one is going to do anything about it anyway. “
City planner Bonnie Blue says the over-tall sculpture is about to be the subject of a criminal case filed by the city attorney’s office.
At the same time that the city attorney is going after William Bell for his metallic phallic symbol …he is also asking the city to approve a citywide art ordinance.
It would require the city staff to grant permission for any outdoor art … of any sort … to be installed anywhere on a person’s lot.
And that proposed ordinance actually has the support of some city planning commissioners in Malibu .. in the name of art.
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Malibu got 7-1/2 inches of rain in one month …. and that brings some good news from the L-A County Waterworks people.
Here’s spokesman Dave Wrightman at last night’s city council meeting.
DAVE WRIGHTMAN WATER :13 QQQ:
“The City of Malibu met their goal of 36 percent fpr th emonth of January. 2017, so give yourself …. [SCATTERED CLAPPING] a hand.
“It does show that the residences of Malibu … and the businesses … do turn their sprinklers off when it rains.”
California officially remains in a drought … and despite the major rainfall of late … state officials want the 36 percent conservation in Malibu to continue.
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And on a day heavy with city council news … one more story.
Malibu Mayor Lou La Monte has appointed Jeff Jennings back to the city Planning Commission.
Jennings replaces Roohi Stack … who resigned after missing several meetings.
Jennings has served 8 years ont he city council… and nearly that long on the Planning Commission.
Jennings was a reliable vote on the side of what he called a common sense reading of city zoning codes and the Coastal Commission’s L-C-P … which governs Malibu land use.
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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … 97.5 K B U. ((( time ))))
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Here’s a headline in a Santa Monica newspaper … the Observer.
“Second SamoHi Girl Dies of a “Mysterious Medical Condition”
The headline is wrong.
The story is wrong … it’s been pulled.
But it has caused great concern in the local school district.
The Santa Monica Observer has removed its article … after apparently linking the death of two students this year to a mysterious disease.
Privacy laws mean the newspaper is not given the cause of death … when a person dies.
But that does not mean the deaths were mysterious … or linked … as the Santa Monica Observer maintains.
The newspaper made that reckless assertion despite the fact the the causes of death for the two students have not been linked to any common cause … that there is no mysterious disease … and the federal privacy laws shield the cause of death.
School district officials note there are more than 3 thousand students at the high school … and sometimes people die.
Last October … a girl died of undisclosed causes.
A district spokeswoman says both cases are very sad … two kids in one year at the same 3,000-student high school.
Grief counselors are working today at Samohi.
A senior girl … Kelly Cano . died last weekend.
Kelly was a member of choir and on the swim team for Samohi.
The district has been assured that Kelly Cano’s sudden death is not thought to be associated with the gastrointestinal illness … possibly Norovirus …. that has affected students and staff in the school district.
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Construction crews in Northern California are working around the clock to save the spillway at Oroville Dam.
And the damage control has begun in Los Angeles.
The head of the water district that serves Malibu and all of Southern California is pushing back against claims that the Metropolitan Water District resisted paying for improving the spillway at Oroville Dam.
Jeff Kightlinger told the Sacramento Bee and other reporters that the MWD did not oppose proposed spillway repairs because they would be too expensive.
He said the water districts pay for water storage … and the federal and state governments usually pay for flood control improvements.
In 2005 … environmentalists went before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to argue that the unpaved spillway be lined with concrete to prevent exactly the type of disaster unfolding at the dam now.
Bush Administration appointees turned that effort back … and relicensed the dam with a dirt spillway because no one ever thought it would flood this much.
The dam spillway improvement cost would have largely been borne by several agribusiness-serving irrigation districts … on the western side of the San Joaquin Valley.
These big companies have spent heavily on Republican political campaigns.
The California governor at the time … Arnold Schwarzenegger …. did not fight the federal decision.
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The decades-long battle over the fate of Santa Monica Municipal Airport is -NOT- over.
Several aviation organizations filed court papers Monday … asking a federal appeals court to review a recent agreement to shorten the runway soon … and then close the airport in 12 years. Santa Monica and the Federal Aviation Administration signed a consent agreement … which was accepted as final by a U-S District Court judge a few weeks ago.
The Santa Monica Airport Association … a business jet association and four airport tenants requested a hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which handles cases involving federal agencies.
The business jet association accuses the F-A-A of “seeming acquiescence to a vocal minority of Santa Monica residents” … according to the L-A Times.
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Weather for the Malibu ….
Patchy dense fog burning off …. then partly sunny.
It will be (((( 65 )))) degrees today on the beach … (((( 72 )))) inland.
Winds will be gentle.
Downcoast winds will be ((( 10 )))) miles per hour this afternoon.
Sunset tonight is at (((( 5:36 )))).
After that … expect patchy fog tonight … ((( low 56 )))) on the beach … but cold inland … down to (((( 39 )))) in the canyons.
Tomorrow should be (((( sunny and 70 )))).
The next rain is Thursday night … 70 percent chance.
Right now … it’s (((( 51 )))) at Trancas.
(((( 56 )))) in upper Malibu Canyon.
And it’s (((( 56 ))) at Civic center Los Angeles.
In the ocean … it’s (((( 54 )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.
The lifeguards say the waves today are (((( 2-4 )))) feet high ….
(((( A WNW swell continues to sweep down the coast..
Those are (((( fair )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.
((((( Hihg tide is at 11:13 this morning.
Low tide right after sunset … at 5:39. ))))
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Navigate to k-b-u dot f-m. … press two buttons …. and we’re in your ear anywhere in the world.