More than 40 residents attended a City Council-led public tour of Malibu Bluffs Park Saturday morning, where many remained critical of the idea of trading away Charmlee Wilderness Park for full control of Bluffs, citing a host of unanswered questions surrounding the terms of the potential deal. The council voted 5-0 in favor of pursuing the swap in January, but concerns ranging from transparency to potential fire danger have lingered.
The walk-through was led by City Councilmembers John Sibert and Laura Rosenthal, along with City Manager Jim Thorsen. Residents and city officials traversed Bluffs’ trails on a day when the sun was shining brightly over the Pacific Ocean, a cool breeze was blowing and dozens of little league children practiced nearby on the city-owned portion of Bluffs Park.
“It’s so beautiful out here,” Rosenthal said at one point.
“Exactly, so why change it?” one attendee responded, referring to possible recreational and athletic development at Bluffs.
Under the proposed deal, the city, which currently owns 10 acres of Bluffs Park, would receive the remaining 83 acres from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC), while it would transfer its more than 532 acres at Charmlee to the conservancy and its sister agency the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
The SMMC’s board of directors has already voted to pursue permits for eight overnight campsites at Charmlee should the deal go through, which has stoked fears of fire danger among many residents.
Sibert and Rosenthal tried to tame doubters with assurances that a trade was still far off. The city would conduct thorough geological and community surveys, they said, before deciding on whether to pursue a swap. “There’s no done deal,” Rosenthal told the group. “I wanna do my due diligence before anything happens and talk to people that would be using this [park].”
Sibert echoed Rosenthal, saying he still had plenty to mull over before deciding whether it’s in the city’s best interest to trade parks.
“I have got to sit here and look at both sides and try and make a decision,” Sibert said.
City Manager Jim Thorsen showed attendees maps of a 2010 SMMC Public Works plan showing where ballfields and other recreational facilities could be built, with a hefty chunk of developable acreage in the center of Bluffs Park. The SMMC document claims there are 30-35 acres at Bluffs Park usable for park and recreational facilities.
Jae Flora-Katz, a leader of the community group Preserve Malibu, disputed the public works plan. She argued that the California Coastal Commission would not honor the assessment showing 30-35 developable acres and the city would have a lot of legwork to prove that Bluffs is a feasible site for a sports complex.
“How much time are you going to allot to make sure this is 100 percent doable?” she asked officials. “It could take many years.”
“If that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes,” Rosenthal answered.
Critics also objected to potential crowds that a new sports complex in central Malibu might attract, while another resident called the area a jewel that should not be graded for ballfields.
Either way, Rosenthal believes SMMC Executive Director Joe Edmiston will build new campsites somewhere in Malibu, swap or no swap.
“If we don’t go through with the swap, there will be 40 campsites here,” she said, referring to Edmiston’s controversial plans for campsites at Bluffs.
Rosenthal and other supporters cite a lack of athletic facilities in Malibu for youth sports as a key reason for the swap. She suggested on Saturday that acquiring the rest of Bluffs could lead to more adult sports leagues in Malibu.
Much of the questions and concerns raised by residents will be addressed in an upcoming staff report, according to Thorsen.
Saturday was the second of three walk-throughs led by public officials. Sibert and Rosenthal will lead another walk-through at Charmlee Wilderness Park on March 9 at 10 a.m.
The council members said they are using these town halls as opportunities to hear any and all feedback from residents as they deliberate the possible park swap.
“This was as much information for us as it was for the people that were here,” Sibert said.
