City Council denies Planning Commission’s variance to allow builder to construct private road. The builder vows to fight to the end.
By Jeff Bertolucci
Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu City Council says Brian Sweeney can’t build a private road on his steep mountain property above Sweetwater Mesa. But Sweeney says he’ll have his road, even if it means years of expensive litigation.
Manhattan Beach resident Sweeney says he has no choice but to sue the city after the council rejected his proposal for a 1,660-foot driveway at its April 22 meeting. The private road would have linked Sweeney’s property in unincorporated Los Angeles County to Sweetwater Mesa Road, a narrow private road in Malibu.
“It’s very frustrating for me because I would like to have my own house at the end of that road, and they’re not letting me go there,” Sweeney told The Malibu Times.
Sweeney plans to build five, single-family homes on the site and says his property is inaccessible without the private road. But nearby Serra Retreat neighbors fear the road will eventually connect to Piuma Road at the top of the mountain, thereby creating a thoroughfare through their private streets down to Pacific Coast Highway.
The council, after directing city staff for months to undertake environmental studies and meet with attorneys for both sides, ultimately overturned the Planning Commission’s approval of a variance for the road.
“What (Sweeney) wants to do is develop homes further up in the mountains, which is not something we’re wild about,” said Malibu Major Jeff Jennings.
“I’m also concerned with the road becoming an alternate thoroughfare in that area.”
The council’s decision to deny Sweeney his road amounts to a “regulatory taking” that entitles the property owner payment for his land, according to Sweeney’s attorney Cathy Philitovitch.
“They have denied him all economic use of his property because the County of Los Angeles won’t allow someone to build a house with no road leading to it,” she said.
Sweeney has an easement permitting him (with a city variance) to build a road to Sweetwater Mesa, but doesn’t have an easement granting access to Piuma, according to Philitovitch.
But Jennings and the council rejected the takings argument.
“All we’re saying is he can’t have a variance,” said Jennings. “We’re not telling him what he can or can’t do with his property.”
To Sweeney, this means war.
“I’m going to pursue this until I’m successful,” he said. “They just want to take my property from me.”
Serra Retreat neighbors fear a thoroughfare is a realistic threat.
“What you’ve got is the ability of other property owners to grant easements that could conceivably link Piuma to the top of Sweetwater Mesa Road,” said Malibu attorney Todd Sloan, who has represented opponents of the Sweeney project.
Los Angeles County zoning standards could also allow up to 500 homes on the Sweeney property, Sloan added. Neighbors and city officials believe that such massive development would be inappropriate for the mountainous area.
Sweeney calls this argument “completely ridiculous.”
“They’re making up stuff that we’ll subdivide the property into 500 homes and build a highway from Piuma to Sweetwater,” said Sweeney, who has agreed with Malibu city planners’ requests that he not subdivide his land and block all road access through it, thereby eliminating the possibility of a thoroughfare and a crowded subdivision.
Ultimately, the courts will resolve the matter.
“It’s going to cost the city a fortune in legal fees, and it’s going to cost me a ton of money,” Sweeney said. “I can’t believe the residents of Malibu will be happy to have their taxpayer dollars wasted this way.”