on issue of views
The draft View Restoration Ordinance submitted by staff for consideration by the Planning Commission on Nov. 16, although well intentioned and the product of a lot of work, is flawed on a number of fronts.
First and foremost, the staff ordinance fails to fulfill the mandate of the April 2008, voters advising the City Council to adopt an ordinance to restore private views and implicitly implement a fair, balanced and, most importantly, efficient system for resolution of disputes between view seekers and foliage owners. The staff ordinance has, as its final stage, the homeowners being required to go to court and engage in what inevitably would be long, contentious and expensive litigation, as opposed to the fair and expedited system proposed by the View Task Force more than a year ago, which, through a fee structure parallel to what already exists, would be totally cost-neutral to the city, but save homeowners thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in attorneys fees and costs. Several council members and members of the Planning Commission have openly agreed that the Malibu ordinance must not end with the homeowners in court.
Having random courts and judges determine the outcome of view disputes would inevitably result in the application of differing standards and inconsistent decisions, as opposed to a system such as that recommended by the View Task Force and already successfully in practice in Rancho Palos Verdes in which dedicated and experienced teams of experts apply uniform justice and mediation methodologies across all cases.
The proposed ordinance would have the city dedicate substantial funds to private mediation and staffing to investigate and issue non-binding advisory opinions, but without the homeowners having the benefit of a final resolution of the view dispute. Those precious funds could be saved by a fee-based view permit system such as was recommended by the Task Force.
Although there are many ways to achieve this result, the city which overwhelmingly voted for a View Restoration Ordinance would be far better off with an ordinance along the lines recommended by the Task Force, the essential elements of which have been tested by the courts and found in other municipalities to be fiscally manageable as well as effective in restoring views where warranted.
Barry W. Tyerman