The council will also hear the appeal on the Zumirez Drive realignment project.
By Jonathan Friedman/Assistant Editor
The landmark Bluffs Park deal is on the agenda of two meetings taking place Monday.
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Advisory Committee and the Malibu City Council will vote on the agreement, which could bring an end to the 20-plus year conflict over the ball fields at Bluffs Park. There has so far not been any public opposition to the deal and Malibu city council members praised it at last week’s meeting. The agreement must also be approved by the state Public Works Board.
Nearly two weeks ago, it was announced that a land-swapping deal between the city, the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the SMMC had been reached to solve the Bluffs Park controversy. The conflict deals with State Parks not wanting Malibu Little League and Malibu AYSO to use the state-owned Bluffs Park because state parks are not supposed to be for active recreation purposes.
As part of the agreement, State Parks will transfer the 93-acre property located on Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu Canyon Road to the SMMC. The city will then buy the 10 acres of the site that includes the ball fields, the Landon Center building and a running path. The money will go to State Parks, which will put it toward the purchase of the Soka University property, a 600-acre site located in the Santa Monica Mountains that several state agencies and the National Park Service are trying to purchase.
An appraisal must be done to determine the value of the 10 acres of Bluffs Park the city will purchase. According to a report written by City Manager Katie Lichtig, the money to purchase the property will come from the city’s general fund reserve, which she wrote is expected to reach $9 million at the end of the 2004-05 fiscal year. The council will have to approve the final purchase.
Councilmember Jeff Jennings, who has been at the forefront of negotiations between the state and the city over Bluffs Park the past few years, said in an interview last week that he hopes the transaction will be finalized by April. The City Council meeting will take place at City Hall at 6:30 p.m., while the SMMC Advisory Committee session will take place at Webster Elementary School at 7:30 p.m.
Residents angered over Zumirez appeal
Also at Monday’s City Council meeting, the council will hear the appeal on the coastal development permit granted by the Planning Commission for the Zumirez Drive realignment project. Public Safety Commissioner Ryan Embree appealed the project that would shift the south end of the Point Dume road so that it is aligned with the north end, located on the opposite side of Pacific Coast Highway. Embree said his opposition came about because the California Department of Transportation would only grant a permit for the project if a traffic light were added to the intersection. The Caltrans demand was only made public days before the Planning Commission meeting. Embree said no documentation was given for Caltrans’ reasoning and a proper hearing was not conducted to determine whether a traffic signal was needed at the intersection.
“So far, it appears that governmental workers have conspired behind an iron curtain through which the public cannot see to change the roadwork project after its public hearing closed,” Embree said earlier this month.
During the open public comment portion of Friday’s City Council meeting, Point Dume resident Deborah Kramer spoke harshly about Embree’s appeal, saying he was holding the project hostage. According to a lawsuit settlement with the owner of a portion of the property the realigned Zumirez Road must go through, the project must be completed by May 21. It is currently delayed as the council declined to vote on awarding a construction contract for the project because of the appeal.
“The tsunami was an unpredictable and uncontrollable act of God,” Kramer said. “But the next accident at the intersection of Zumirez and PCH will be the act of an individual. And the individual is not the one behind the wheel, but behind the appeal.”
Embree also spoke at Friday’s meeting, saying he was additionally troubled because city staff met with Point Dume residents at a private residence to discuss the project when it was being designed. The city council members said they were not troubled by city staff discussing projects with residents, and, in fact, encouraged it. Mayor Sharon Barovsky said she has received numerous phone calls regarding the appeal.
Additionally on Monday, the council will vote on whether to place an item on the ballot that would ask Malibu residents if they want the city to accept a donation of about 1.2 acres of land and $500,000 for construction of a City Hall in exchange for allowing a 12,700-square-foot increase above that allowed by the city code for construction of office and retail buildings on the La Paz property, located between La Paz Lane and Civic Center Way.