The home to be built on Seaboard Road must receive approval from all city agencies and the Fire Department regarding access roads.
By Mark Bassett/Special to The Malibu Times
After three public hearings that included impassioned public comment and featured changes on the Planning Commission, the commission Monday unanimously approved the construction of a 9,390-square-foot Seaboard Road home.
However, the approval has 33 contingencies, including pre- and post-construction geologic assessment of the roads to and from the 32-acre site, and comes after landowner, Marvin Smith, redesigned the project to minimize the amount of grading and dirt extraction, which would necessitate large trucks traveling along both the public and private area roads.
“The grading issue has been addressed, and we have 11 pages of conditions,” Commissioner Les Moss said. “The object of the zoning ordinance in not to prevent people from building on their properties, it’s to see whether reasonable requirements are met.”
Prior public hearings about the project brought to light a series of community concerns, including the lack of notification of neighbors, lack of input from the Environmental Review Board, the significant amount of grading, and that it would set a precedent for the construction of large-scale projects in Malibu.
Malibu resident Kraig Hill stated in a memorandum, “What is now a pristine wilderness area could eventually become a gold-coast of 15,000-square-foot mega-mansions.”
Commissioner Joel Walker echoed this sentiment, prior to his vote of approval.
Seaboard Road access to the construction site became a bone of contention at Monday’s meeting, one that the Planning Commission had little authority over. Smith’s potential neighbor, Gene Sprouse, reminded the commission that during the 1993 fires, the Fire Department wouldn’t come to the aide of Seaboard residents because the access road beneath his property was too narrow and poised a safety risk. Sprouse described personally fending off the flames and saving his home, and stated his new concern was that the home would slide down the canyon if the access road were widened to accommodate construction vehicles.
Commissioner Pete Anthony asked Planning Manager Mike Teruya if the three hearings and the redesign of the plot plan and minimization of grading would be an academic exercise if the Fire Department didn’t approve the access road. Teruya answered that Fire Department approval was a necessary component and was required before any construction could begin.
Stating that Sprouse’s concerns resonated with him, Anthony had additional contingencies added to the resolution, including that the access road be approved by all city agencies, including the Fire Department and the geological commission.
When asked whether he’d assessed the stability of the access road, Smith responded, “I had to assure myself and had a geologic assessment done for roadways both on and offsite.”
After the unanimous vote of approval from the board, with Carol Randall abstaining because she lives just below the proposed construction site, Smith said he was pleased that he had been granted approval and that he intended to work with his neighbors on the project.
The removal of dirt due to grading might have an added benefit for the neighborhood, which was severely damaged during the 1993 fires and the subsequent El Niño flooding. The Upper Mesa Property Association said it hopes to use the dirt to stabilize the canyon. The stabilization project has been 10 years in the making, and while Smith wouldn’t speak in-depth about the relocation of the fill, he said the project might not require massive vehicles traveling between his property and the damaged area.
Additional issues addressed at the meeting included Malibu resident John Mazza’s statement during public comment that a previously approved Pacific Coast Highway commercial project did not adhere to code restrictions because the numbers provided by the architect weren’t accurate. The Planning Department had unanimously approved the application for construction of a two-story, 9,709-square-foot office building on Pacific Coast Highway near the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue. Mazza suggested adding a checks and balance system to ensure approvals are granted with assessment of factual information. Commissioner Moss suggested adding an engineer to the evaluation team, as many of the issues facing the commission were scientific in nature.