Good morning P C H!
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Malibu Olympian Found Dead In Arizona Pool
An Olympic runner from Malibu was found dead in a swimming pool at an apartment complex in suburban Phoenix yesterday morning.
David Torrence, age 31, had been training in Scottsdale for more footraces.
Police in Scottsdale say the Malibu man was found at the bottom of the pool at a condominium complex at around 7:30 yesterday.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
David Torrence originally ran for the United States Olympic team, but in the 2016 Rio Olympics he ended up switching to the Olympic team from Peru, his mother’s home country,.
Bianca Torrence is a Realtor at Pritchett and Rapf on Point Dume.
The Maricopa County coroner has not listed any cause of death for David Torrence … 31 of Malibu … found dead yesterday near Phoenix,
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On a day that Hurricane Harvey destroyed Houston … a trio of hurricanes landed at Malibu City Hall.
FEMA flood maps may over-inundate the beach … and AMPS got a rare rejection … the city council says no to a plan to create a Malibu city charter to fight Santa Monica in divorce court.
Those are the headlines from the city council meeting last night ….
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Malibu City Council
Neighborhood Character Issue Splits Council and City
THIS STORY WAS CORRECTED AT 12:25 PM MONDAY TO REFLECT ACCURATE VOTE COUNT.
The big issue last night …. the fight over Malibu’s neighborhood character.
The Malibu city council is under pressure …. like cities everywhere … to stop mansionization.
Current city and coastal regulations require the city to apply neighborhood characteristics to a proposed construction project.
But planning commissioners say that almost never happens.
Until now at least.
Until now… if a house meet technical … legal standard for the lot … it gets approved … even if if is a mansion amongst small houses.
Never … until this summer … when the city council rejected a house — the Via Acero house —that met all the code specifications …. but was found to be too large for the neighborhood character.
Last night … Realtor after architect after broker went before the Malibu city council .
They assailed the use of neighborhood character in the planning process.
They said imposing neighborhood standards will depress the value of other real estate in Malibu … and make it difficult for elderly people who want to cash out.
Councilman Lou La Monte summed those fears up.
LA MONTE VALUES 11 QQQ no way around it.
“My neighbors are frightened of this.
“Because this, no matter what anybody says here, will definitely affect land values.
“This will affect property values, there is no way around it.” [END QUOTE]
But that was refuted by councilman Rick Mullen …
He said his three-member slate got elected last fall because of bigger and bigger houses popping up in Malibu … and ruining old Malibu rural character …
MULLEN VALUES :16 QQQ: as decreasing their values.
“I know its been great for the last 20 years, but there’s a reason why the three of us got elected.
“OK?
“I understand that the real estate professionals see it as the end of their world.
“I don’t see it that way, and I don’t see it as decreasing their values.” [END QUOTE]
In the end … a badly-divided city council asked its planning director to come up with recommendations.
That did not sit well with councilman Rick Mullen.
MULLEN DELAY :06 QQQ: do we have a time frame for this?
“I see delay, delay delay delay going on here.
“Do we have a time frame for this?” [END QUOTE]
The time frame will be November …
That votes was 3 yes and 1 no — Rosenthal Peake and Wagner yes … La Monte no … and Mullen abstaining.
[NOTE: An earlier version of this article had the wrong vote tally. KBUU regrets the error, which will be corrected on tomorrow’s broadcast.]
But the council rejected Rick Mullen’s request that the city manager draft an ordinance in the meantime … or some other sort of council action … on the matter sooner than that.
That went down on a 2 to 3 vote … with only Mullen and Wagner in favor.
Left undecided was the fate of the 96 or so home applications now being processed at City Hall … will they be subject to some future rule that they must not be too ostentatious for the neighborhood???
Stay tuned.
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Malibu City Council
AMPS Asks For Formal Divorce,
Council Rejects City Charter Gambit
For the first time … the advocates for a separate Malibu school district ran into a rare vote of opposition last night from the Malibu city council.
Now … this is a bit complicated.
First …the leader of the school district separation movement appeared before the city council.
AMPS president Christi Hovest.
NEWSCART 77317 CHRISTI HOVEST :13
“The Advocates for Malibu Public Schools is requesting that the Malibu City Council … submit the already unanimously-passed resolution for unification to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.” [END QUOTE]
All well and good.
But then … step two may have been a bridge too far.
Members of AMPS asked for the city council to … in essence … throw out the present government system for the City of Malibu.
AMPS organizer … and school board member … Craig Foster … had proposed that Malibu become a charter city.
This charter city would specify that school board members be elected in a way that conflicts with the city charter of Santa Monica …
That would set up a lawsuit from Malibu … an irritance aimed at provoking Santa Monica to cut loose Malibu..
The Malibu city council’s reaction … horror on a 3 to 2 vote.
Changing the entire legal structure of the City of Malibu …. just to pick a lawsuit fight with Santa Monica … was simply not appealing.
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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … 97.5 K B U. ((( time ))))
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Beachfront Flooding Exaggerated In Fed Maps: Experts Say
FEMA coastal flood maps have Malibu coastal engineers up in arms.
Local building engineers say they are baffled by the new federal FEMA maps … which predict coastal waves crossing much of the property along the beach in Malibu.
A public meeting held by FEMA last week drew a huge crowd … and the engineers and members of the public say they came away baffled.
Coastal engineer David Weiss tells the city council he has drawn the wave uprush models for most of Malibu … he says … in his 50 year career.
NEWSCART 77319 DAVID WEISS AAA QQQ new base flood maps.
“And I have never — never — come up with some of the elevations that I’ve seen on these new base flood maps.” [END QUOTE]
Another engineer … Reg Brown … says the new FEMA maps would require drastic changes …. if the city adopts zoning rules based on the federal flood maps.
NEWSCART 77320 REG BROWN AAA QQQ elevated on columns.
“This will result in elevating a new residences well above the neighbors’ residence, to an elevation where the first floor is approximately 10 feet above the level of the street.
“The area under the first floor would be required to have no walls and would be open so that the residence is basically elevated in columns. “ [END QUOTE]
What does this mean?
FEMA .. the federal government … requires cities to follow its flood maps if residents are to get federal flood insurance.
Many mortgages require that.
The FEMA maps are wildly inaccurate … and not just in Malibu.
Ask Houston about that.
But if the current FEMA maps for Malibu are adopted by the U-S government without changes … coastal engineer David Weiss says oceanfront real estate may soon become worthless.
NEWSCART 77319 DAVID WEISS BBBB QQQQ
“This is going to render a number of sites unbuildable and probably worthless, and this is going to be a tremendous financial burden on the citizens of Malibu.” [END QUOTE]
The city council was not able to address the issue … but watch for the FEMA maps issue to return.
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Vintage Market Managers Sacked
The management team at Vintage Market has been sacked.
Eric Fuchs … who had been recruited to design and then head the gourmet grocery store … was let go.
One of his top assistants was also fired.
Another assistant … resigned.
Store management confirms that … in the words of one … we all like Eric but we want to go in a different direction.
Fuchs was a highly regarded executive at Whole Foods and was recruited to start a grocery chain by Trancas Country Market’s owner … an heiress to the Wal Mart fortune.
There’s no word of any other changes at the store.
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Traffic …
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Weather for the Malibu ….
The same very strong high pressure system that is keeping Hurricane Harvey in Texas … is blocking coastal winds from cooling off Southern California.
And it looks locked in for the next 6 or 7 days.
The National Weather Service heat advisory continues …
High temperatures will be up to around 106 in the hills above Malibu.
It will be (((( sunny and hot )))) today … highs around (((( 84 )))) degrees today on the beach … (((( 106 )))) in the mountains above Malibu.
Winds will be non existent.
Downcoast winds will be ((( about 5 )))) miles per hour this afternoon.
Sunset tonight is at (((( 7:24 )))).
After that … expect it to be about (((( 70 )))) on the beach … down to (((( 75 )))) in the canyons.
Tomorrow should be (((( hot as well )))).
Right now … at Trancas it’s (((( 63 )))) degrees.
In upper Malibu Canyon … (((( 97 )))) .
And at Civic Center Los Angeles … (((( 71 )))).
In the ocean … it’s (((( 66 )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.
The lifeguards say the waves today are (((( 1 to 2 )))) feet high ….
(((( Small NW swell mix. S/SSE swell tops out. Largest a S facing exposures.
))))
Those are (((( fair )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.
((((( Low tide is at 9:28
A small high tide follows at 4:26 this afternoon. ))))
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