A scheduled hearing on a lot line adjustment appeal by nine organizations and one individual is delayed after more than a year of waiting.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
To the anger of the property owners’ consultant, the City Council on Monday, at a last minute request by the National Park Service, delayed the hearing on the appeal of the Planning Commission’s approval of a lot line adjustment of four Latigo Canyon Road properties.
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Superintendent Woody Smeck had written a letter to the city on Friday asking for a continuance because, he wrote, the NPS would not be able to send an official to the hearing. The NPS is not one of the 10 appellants opposed to the project, but the park officials have expressed concern about the proposal. The city has been working closely with the NPS on the Malibu Legacy Park Project and other issues. Some council members admitted this was their reasoning for agreeing to a continuance.
“I don’t do this very lightly,” Councilmember Andy Stern said. “But I think when the United States government makes that request, with the relationships we’ve had going with the National Park Service, I think we owe it to them.”
The project, which calls for the transformation of a 121-acre property and three tiny parcels into four pieces of land large enough to allow for the building of one home on each parcel, has already been continued by the council twice. Those appealing the project say the lot line adjustment would lead to the building of homes too close to state-protected, environmentally sensitive habitat areas, and they want the property owners to dedicate a 3,000 foot trail that goes through the area. The trail would be part of the Coastal Slope Trail being planned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which would connect the west and east ends of Malibu through city, state and federal parklands.
When the lot line adjustment went before the Planning Commission last year, one company owned the entire property. The four parcels have since been sold to four different buyers, but they all have maintained the services of planning consultant Don Schmitz. He has said his clients refuse to dedicate the trail unless they are able to build homes larger than the city’s Local Coastal Program allows. Schmitz has demanded the appellants sign a document agreeing to this, despite the fact that his clients’ current request is exclusively for a lot line adjustment, and not construction permits. The appellants would not be able to guarantee the size of future homes on the property since such an assurance could only come at the discretion of a City Council vote.
On Monday, Schmitz blasted the four council members who supported the continuance.
“Candidly, it just strikes us that they are dealing in dilatory tactics,” Schmitz said. “You have a two thousand-page staff report. I don’t know how many hours have gone into this. It’s hard to imagine there is a project that has been more thoroughly reviewed… Honestly, council members, when is enough enough?”
Mayor Jeff Jennings was the lone supporter of Schmitz’s frustration. He said he had received a request from an appellant last week to delay the hearing, and did not support that. He said he would not support the latest request just because it was made by the NPS.
“I think that this matter has been hanging around far too long as it is,” Jennings said. “I don’t see it in as complicated a light as some of the appellants do. But I think it ought to be heard and resolved.”
Jennings asked some of the appellants who were in attendance at Monday’s meeting if they supported the continuance. Representatives from the Sierra Club and Malibu resident John Mazza said they did. An official from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy said he did not care either way. The conservancy is already on record stating that a City Council approval of the lot line adjustment would automatically be appealed to the California Coastal Commission.
Dixie Moore, who has lived as a caretaker on the property for more than 30 years, said she did not believe the NPS could not find any officials to come to the meeting because it is such a large agency. Smeck did not return a phone call on Tuesday from The Malibu Times to respond to the allegation.
In addition to the letter from Smeck, the city also recently received many other documents regarding the project from the various appellants.
“The vast majority of this stuff has come in since last night,” Stern said. “It was wrong. I got stuff that didn’t go to other council members. I got stuff that didn’t go to [City Clerk] Lisa Pope. I got stuff that I couldn’t read. It is not right. And I will tell you, and I’ve said it to lawyers before, this stunt to get it before us so it’s on the record but we don’t have a chance to read it, I resent that.”
The appeal was rescheduled to be heard on Nov. 26. A person attending the meeting shouted out from the audience that this was the Monday following Thanksgiving, but the council was not persuaded that this could be a negative factor. Schmitz said he would have preferred an earlier date, but the council members and staff said the meetings prior to that were already full.