We have lived in Monte Nido for 12 years and we love living here. The open space, combined with the closeness of the community, is ideal. When our children passed the toddler stage, however, we realized that there were no ball fields or sports facilities near us where they could play. So we decided to build our pool and sports court.
I (Terry), personally, went to the Department of Building and Safety and asked what I had to do to get the plans built. They gave me a check sheet with different agencies. Coastal Commission was on the sheet, but it was not one of the agencies checked off. I still have this sheet.
The plans were built, and signed off on by all the agencies that I was told were necessary.
Coastal Commission sent us a letter and said that someone reported a possible violation at our property. They said that we needed permits for all the work we’d done on the pool plans, and that they were also requiring us to get new permits for things that had been done and signed off on back when the house was built in 1990.
They said that the propane tank suddenly needed permit, that we illegally graded the area for the sport court (we have dated photos showing the pad’s existence) and they ordered us to do all kinds of new engineering reports, grading reports, drainage reports, ecological reports, soil reports, survey reports, etc. even though all those types of reports were prepared and approved at the time of construction.
The Department of Regional Planning gave an approval in concept to all the improvements we made, even after Coastal’s complaints.
Nevertheless, Coastal wants us to rip out the existing sports court, and that’s just for starters.
They’re requiring a permit for removing what they call “25 square feet of concrete … adjacent to the sports court.” There were some small chunks of concrete down the hillside. We manually picked them up and threw them away.
They talk about a stairway “illuminated with light posts” extending from the pool area to the sports court. In fact, there are railroad tie steps with low voltage lighting.
They claim that this “lighted stairway” of RR ties and decomposed granite is an “impervious surface” that will reduce the stormwater infiltration and significantly increase “the velocity of sheetflow down the hillside.”
They talk about commission staff seeing erosion on the steps to the court. There is no geologic erosion, just some gopher holes.
They are requiring us to remove the “sand fill” children’s play area.
Odd that they consider my home in the coastal zone, yet they disapprove of sand.
They are requiring a permit for a Rubbermaid ball shed that they consider part of the “development.”
They are requiring us to do a new fuel mode plan, even though the Forestry Department has written a letter saying that it is not required, and therefore they will not take the time to review one for this property.
Coastal sent Fish and Game to my house to inspect the property. The inspector confirmed that there were no Fish and Game violations on the property.
September 12th, my doorbell rings with yet another unscheduled visitor that Coastal sent from the building department who reviewed my property and said there was no violation.
Coastal is requiring us to move our water tank closer to the house. The tank has been there since the house was built, and there is nowhere closer to place it that the existing topography will accommodate, or that would conform to Fire Department regulation. The Fire Department has stated in writing that “the water tank and outlet are properly located on the site.”
The report requires me to install a system on the pool that reduces or eliminates the use of chlorine. Nevertheless, they are also requiring that any time the pool needs to be drained, the water is carried off site. If we remove all the chemicals, this makes no sense.
They claim to be concerned about the pool overflowing. However, the pool is 2 feet below the grade of the land in most places and has never come close to overflowing … even during El Nino winters. They want us to put a liner “underside of the pool.” Know any strong men that could lift it up?
They want a meter put on the water line into the pool. This will not account for rain or differing evaporation amounts on hot days. It is a punitive measure that the pool contractor says he has never heard of in over 30 years of building pools in the area.
The Coastal staff report complains about “sprinkler heads … along Piuma Road.” It’s a drip line to the Oleander bushes.
They talk about “several oak trees located adjacent to the subject site.” They do not give any specific information on how far away this is.
There are no oak trees on our property, and a qualified biologist has so certified.
They want us to move part of our pool fencing closer to the house. There is no logical reason why relocating the fence would result in a significant difference in coastal resources or visual impact. In fact, it would make the fence more visible.
And Coastal staff requires “Any additional information that the Commission staff determines to be necessary to complete the application.”
This has led to a never-ending list of things they suddenly decide we should do after we have satisfied earlier requests.
The report refers to “increasing urbanization” in the Santa Monica Mountains. Somehow, my pool, sport court and permitted single-family home are a problem; yet the land cleared by Quaker-Ross for large homes on small lots at the bottom of Piuma Road is not.
The sad and unwitting result of Coastal’s zealotry is the effects it’s had on the children of Malibu. Rather than young, idealistic environmentalists, they are suspicious and resentful of environmental agencies. They see their parks and ball fields in jeopardy. Recently, my son’s fifth-grade teacher told me she was trying to teach the children to debate in class using an example of a man with a pond on his property that was found to have an endangered species of fish in it. The teacher could not get a single student to volunteer to defend the environmentalist point of view.
A hearing on the permit application was scheduled for this Monday at the Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach.
Terry and Howard Rubinroit