Sharon Barovsky thinks that she can do a better job sculpting Trancas ridge than God’s own creation. At the Feb. 23 hearing for the appeal of the EIR for Trancas Park, Councilmember Barovsky said she thought the ridge would look better after grading and developing the area. She must have been very sure of this from the outset, because she never looked once at the appellant’s PowerPoint presentation which demonstrated, using the city’s own pictures, that the cut called for in the park plan would destroy most of the rock outcropping, including the large cave on the north side of the ridge.
Perhaps Mrs. Barovsky agrees with Justine Petretti, who wrote in her Feb. 19 letter, “there are plenty of caves for the bats to relocate to.” I personally shall miss the escarpment and the cave when they are gone. I will miss seeing the bats flying around at dusk. I will miss seeing the rising sun light up the rock outcropping that stretches the length of the ridge. And I will miss seeing the sunset behind it.
Mrs. Barovsky verbally re-sculpted Trancas ridge by proclaiming that “it’s not a ridge, it’s a hill,” perhaps to get around the laws that protect ridgelines and rock outcroppings. I invite anyone to take a look at the Save Trancas Ridge site on YouTube, or better yet, to drive to the north end of Paseo Canyon Drive, and judge for themselves if they are looking at a ridge or a hill.
It makes one wonder about the City Council’s stewardship of the rest our beautiful Malibu coastal mountains. This is something that I shall bear in mind come the next city election cycle, – that Sharon Barovsky, Andy Stern and John Silbert voted, 3 to 2, to cut the top 28 feet off a rock escarpment ridgeline rather than consider redesigning the layout of a community park. I commend Council members Jefferson Wagner and Pamela Ulich for their willingness to look at alternatives that would better preserve our mountains and wildlife habitat.
Kim Belvin