New Mayor says undoing ‘Byzantine labyrinth’ interim code top priority. Assessment, an alternative to a parks bond measure, would go toward parks and recreation.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to The Malibu Times
The new mayor and mayor pro tem of Malibu were presented at Monday night’s City Council meeting. Ken Kearsley officially took the post as leader of the City Council at Monday’s meeting and Sharon Barovsky was appointed mayor pro tem.
Before stepping down as mayor, Jeff Jennings reflected on his term. He said it was at times a difficult year.
“If I had had my choice, this wouldn’t have been the year we had the LCP that we confronted,” he said. “It sort of sucked the oxygen out of the room of a lot of things we had to get done. But a lot was.”
Jennings said he sees an exciting year ahead for Malibu, and that he is glad he will be on the council during this time.
“I think that we are right now on the cusp to seeing a lot of the things we have worked for in the past three or four years finally coming to fruition,” he said.
Kearsley thanked Jennings for his service as mayor. He joked he was glad Jennings had beaten him by 12 votes back when they ran against each other three years ago. Had Kearsley won that year, he would have served as mayor this past year, thus having to take on the leadership role during the difficult process Malibu has had with fighting the California Coastal Commission over the Local Coastal Plan (LCP).
In his speech, Kearsley talked about the challenges ahead for the council. He said on top of the agenda is “undoing the Byzantine labyrinth” of the city’s interim-zoning ordinance.
“It is time to drop the word interim out of the zoning ordinance,” Kearsley said.
He said the other challenges ahead are the city’s dispute with the California Department of Parks and Recreation over the Bluffs Park situation and its ongoing battle with the Coastal Commission.
“As mayor, I will continue to work tirelessly for local control, and will work to put in place a Local Coastal Plan that will honor the Coastal Act and protect the environment,” he said. “But it must be our plan, adopted by us and not imposed on us.”
Kearsley also spoke about the 20/20 Vision Plan, for which he has been a longtime supporter. Early in his term as a councilmember, he got the council to create a vision committee to investigate the feasibility of creating a plan. A vision plan would set the direction for the city to achieve long-term goals through a process that would involve the entire community. Kearsley said he hoped the city would end up going through with doing it.
“It will take a strong commitment by everyone,” he said. “But we owe it to our grandchildren and children to protect and preserve what makes Malibu the unique place it is today.”
Also at the meeting, the council approved the appropriation of up to $15,000 from the city’s general fund to be used for a mail survey on the public’s support of a Benefit Assessment District. The Bond Measure Advisory Committee had recommended to the City Council in February the wording of a potential parks bond measure to be put on the June 3 ballot. At that time, the council decided to delay putting the measure on that ballot, allowing the school parcel tax to remain the only item for voters this summer. The council also told the committee to look closer at the possibility of creating a benefit assessment district. The assessment funds would go toward acquisition and development of parks and recreation facilities.
The committee has now recommended that a survey be sent to residents to decide if they would support a $15 million or $18 million assessment district. The survey would look similar to an actual ballot. After the results of the survey are concluded, the committee would then bring a recommendation to the council. Shilts Consulting, which would conduct the survey, said it would take approximately six to eight weeks to prepare, send and analyze it.