The Chili Cook-Off site is at the center of debate over the Malibu Bay Co. Development Agreement.
By Jonathan Friedman/Staff Writer
On Tuesday, Malibu residents will get their chance to either finalize the Malibu Bay Company (MBC) Development Agreement with a vote of approval or reject it, reversing the decision made by the City Council in late July that this would be the best deal for Malibu. Called Measure M, the agreement establishes what the MBC, owned by Malibu resident and media tycoon Jerry Perenchio, can do with 12 of its properties over the next 20 years, and what the city receives in return.
Yes on Malibu, the committee in favor of the measure, says the agreement is a good solution for limiting development in Malibu, while getting as much as the city can from the MBC. The most significant offering is the company’s willingness to sell the Chili Cook-Off site, located at Pacific Coast Highway, between Stuart Ranch and Cross Creek roads, for $25 million. If Measure M passes, Malibu has three years to raise the money, which it will attempt to do mostly through acquiring state and federal grants and loans. According to the agreement, the city could use the site for a variety of purposes, with the one most favored being the construction of a wastewater treatment facility that would help clean Malibu’s polluted watershed.
If the city is unable to collect enough money within the 3-year timeframe, and no litigation or California Coastal Commission interference holds things up, and the city and the MBC do not agree to extend the deadline, the agreement allows for the company to build an additional 155,000 square feet of commercial structures on the Chili Cook-Off site. But Lloyd Ahern of Yes on Malibu said he is confident the city will come up with the money.
“Great ideas inspire people to be great, and this is a great idea,” he said. “This town can make this happen.”
Steve Uhring, president of opposition group Malibu Community Action Network (CAN), says he does not share Ahern’s optimism. Uhring said the city is taking too much of a gamble that it could raise the money for the Chili Cook-Off site, and the consequence of it not being able to do so would lead to development that would destroy Malibu. But even if the city is able to buy the property, he said he is still concerned there is no specific proposal for the wastewater treatment facility.
Yes on Malibu has promoted other elements of the deal as attractive opportunities, including the MBC’s commitment to build a new urgent care facility with the current tenant being guaranteed a set lease for six years, the company’s agreement to either build a 5,000 square foot community center at Point Dume or give Malibu $5 million toward construction of a center and ball fields. Also, the company has agreed to keep three Civic Center area properties, totaling 15.67 acres, as open space as well as a 9.87-acre portion of one of its Trancas properties.
But CAN says the company’s agreement to build a new urgent care facility is more of a benefit to the MBC than to the city because the company will have a guaranteed tenant in its new building. In addition, CAN says the properties the MBC has offered to leave as open space do not mean much, because its members say environmental conditions prevent anybody from building on them anyway, an idea disputed by Measure M proponents. Although some CAN members prefer there be no agreement, many say a better one is possible.
However, MBC attorney Dick Volpert has publicly said there will be no further negotiation, and if voters reject the agreement, the company will deal with the properties on a parcel-by-parcel basis. That means the MBC, or whoever might purchase some or all of the properties, would build on them by the city’s zoning code, which Mayor Ken Kearsley said allows more development than the agreement does. The agreement calls for either the city to purchase the Chili Cook-Off site and the MBC to build on its 18.87-acre Point Dume property, or for the MBC to build on the Chili Cook-Off site and for it to donate the Point Dume property to the city. But Kearsley said without the agreement, the MBC would construct two large commercial complexes on both properties.
“That’s the big crapshoot,” he said. “If it (the agreement) doesn’t pass and he (Perenchio) doesn’t renegotiate, those guys (Measure M opponents) are going to have to move to Mexico.”
But Richard Carrigan of Citizens Against Measure M said that statement is just a scare tactic to get people to support the agreement. He said the MBC’s vow not to negotiate any further is meaningless, because Perenchio, as a successful businessman worth more than $3 billion, would not walk away from a situation if a little more bargaining would lead to a good deal. However, Carrigan said even if he is wrong, he is confident environmental and zoning code constraints would mean less development in a parcel-by-parcel process than the agreement allows. His evidence, he says, is that Perenchio would not be going through the stressful and expensive process to get this agreement approved unless it allowed him more development.
For complete details on the Malibu Bay Company Development Agreement, please see past stories online at www.malibutimes.com. Use the archives button, and the advanced search option, typing in MBC. Back date searches by at least six months.. Stay updated on the latest regarding the MBC Development Agreement by visiting www.malibutimes.com
MBC Development Agreement€ City purchases Chili Cook-Off site
for $25 million within three years
€ MBC develops three of its Civic Center Area sites-the Ioki, Island and St.
John’s properties. The remaining three sites will be left as open space
€ MBC commits itself to building a new urgent care facility on the St. John’s
site
€ MBC constructs a 5,000-square-foot community center at Point Dume
€ MBC develops its remaining Point Dume property under the current zoning laws
€ MBC builds 20 homes at its Trancas properties and develops the commercial
portion of its Trancas land
€ MBC donates $2.5 million to the city, of which $1.5 million must go toward
ball fields and up to $1 million for capital facilities for an urgent care
center
€ MBC grants a conservation easement in Trancas Creek for creek restoration and
construction of a footbridge that will link trails from the commercial site
to a path leading to the beach
€ Also, there are plans for commercial and residential development on its
Trancas property.
If the city fails to come up with $25 million in three years to purchase the
Chili Cook-Off site, then a new scenario comes in to play.
Alternative Scenario
€ 185,000 square feet of development is built on Chili Cook-Off site
€ MBC donates entire 18.87-acre Point Dume site for ball fields and community
center
€ MBC donates $5 million for ball fields and a community center
€ The Trancas and Civic Center area development other than the Chili Cook-Off
site remains the same in both scenarios
€ MBC pays for a $60,000 wetlands feasibility study of one Civic Ctr. site