The college and Los Angeles County are negotiating for purchase of the county-owned property.
By Vicky Shere / Special to the Malibu Times
For the second time in one and a-half years and fulfilling terms of a 2004 bond measure, Santa Monica College is trying to acquire land in Malibu for a satellite campus.
College and Los Angeles County officials have been negotiating on the college’s purchase of the county-owned former Malibu Sheriff’s station, a portion of the Malibu Civic Center that once housed City Hall.
“We have been working with the City of Malibu for quite some time to find a location,” said Gregory Brown, SMC director of facilities planning. “This is the first property that has become available since the Yamaguchi land deal fell through.”
Brown was referring to the October 2006 termination of escrow between the college and Yamaguchi Family Trust for the property on Stuart Ranch Road.
The college’s Malibu campus is mandated by the $135 million bond measure approved by Santa Monica and Malibu voters in 2004. Under the terms of that Measure S, $25 million is to be spent for site acquisition and development of a 25,000 square-foot classroom facility and field space for the benefit of Malibu residents.
The [Santa Monica-Malibu Community College] District is also to “take an active role in being environmentally beneficial to the Malibu area,” according to SMC records.
Under the terms of a Joint Powers Agreement between the college district and the City of Malibu, the district’s project includes athletic fields, parking and support facilities, and a “related and appurtenant clean water facility.”
SMC has already used $2.5 million of the bond money to help the city purchase land in the Civic Center for Malibu Legacy Park, and has set aside another $2.5 million for the clean water, open space project, Councilmember Sharon Barovsky said.
One of two city representatives of the Malibu Facilities Authority created by the Joint Powers Agreement (councilmember Ken Kearsley being the other city representative), Barovsky has high hopes for the deal.
“Other than a very small number, we have not had any complaints about the college operating here,” Barovsky wrote in an e-mail. “At this time, over 300 residents travel to Santa Monica for courses at the Santa Monica campus. This [campus] would take those cars off PCH.”
Barovsky reserved the right to change her mind about the project once details are finalized.
On the motion of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents Malibu, the county’s Board of Supervisors authorized the sale of “the former Sheriff’s station and adjoining area” to the community college district and/or Joint Powers Authority.
According to the Jan. 8 resolution, the county chief executive officer is to report his findings and recommendation within 45 days.
The former Sheriff’s station is one of two buildings in the 9.2 acre, 85,260 square feet of the Malibu Civic Center. In addition to the free-standing station, the county courthouse and library in the main building share the Civic Center Way address.
“The JPA proposal offers a unique opportunity for the County to join with other public agencies to expand educational opportunities in the Malibu area,” Yaroslavsky’s motion states.
The Civic Center, constructed in 1963, includes a separate utility building, a maintenance/utility yard, a communications tower, a Federal Aviation Administration-approved heliport and employee and public parking, the resolution states.
While the main building is in generally good condition, the former station is vacant and has become hazardous as a result of a flood caused by a plumbing malfunction, according to the resolution.
In a telephone interview, Yaroslavsky press deputy Joel Bellman expressed the county’s cautious optimism about the deal.
“Zev is enthusiastic about having a community college in the Civic Center because the space is available and the college has the funding to build the facilities,” Bellman said. “A community college can be the locus for all kinds of things beyond classrooms, providing cultural and employment opportunities, as well as a community gathering place.”
Although negotiations include potential sticking points of maintaining the property’s public use, and structural and design consistency, Yaroslavsky sees more “upside” than “downside,” Bellman said.
“The project is a great opportunity at the community college level never attempted before in Malibu,” Bellman said. “We want to try and make it work for the community college district.”