School board appoints interim superintendent
As expected, the Board of Education last Thursday voted to hire San Francisco Bay Area resident Tim Cuneo as the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s interim superintendent. Cuneo had been tentatively selected earlier in the week by the board members after two rounds of interviews.
District official Sarah Wahrenbrock said the contract with Cuneo is still being negotiated, and should be finalized later this week.
At its meeting on July 24, the board is expected to vote on the issuance of request for proposals for a search firm to help find a permanent superintendent. The board last month established a time line to have the firm selected by September with the goal for a superintendent to be hired by March.
Coastal Commission approves zoning change for Larry Ellison eatery
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison last week received the final approval he needed to construct a restaurant on the property containing the former Windsail restaurant. Without comment, the California Coastal Commission unanimously approved a Local Coastal Program zoning change for the property from residential to commercial. The property has been the site of a series of eateries despite the residential designation.
The Malibu Planning Commission last year approved coastal development permits for Ellison to build a 5,900-square-foot Japanese restaurant on the Windsail property and for a 7,100-square-foot unspecified kind of restaurant on the adjacent site of the former PierView restaurant. The PierView site did not need a zoning change, but major work has not begun on that property.
La Paz project headed back to Planning Commission
The Planning Commission will take a second look at the La Paz shopping center proposal in the Civic Center area on Aug. 5. The commission had made a recommendation for the City Council on the project in January, but the proposal has since been revised with a new wastewater system plan. Of the five commissioners who voted on the project in January, only two-Joan House and Regan Schaar-are still on the board.
City planner Stefanie Edmondson said this week the decision to return the project to the Planning Commission prior to a City Council vote was because of the wastewater proposal, which she said was a significant enough change to need further review, but not significant enough that the project’s environmental impact report must be circulated again for public review.
There are two proposals for the La Paz project. One calls for a 132,000-square-foot development, with land set aside for Malibu to build a City Hall. The other option is for a 99,000-square-foot project that does not include a City Hall offer. The Planning Commission earlier this year recommended the City Council reject the larger proposal and approve the smaller one.
Arraignment hearing continued for Corral Fire suspects
For the fourth time, the arraignment hearing has been continued for Eric Matthew Ullman and Dean Allen Lavorante, the Culver City
teens accused of being involved in the starting of the Nov. 24 Corral Fire. The arraignment was supposed to take place on Friday, and is now scheduled for Aug. 21. A Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said she did not know the reason for the continuance. Past hearings have been continued at the request of the suspects’ lawyers so they could have more time to go through the large amount of interviews transcripts.
Ullman and Lavorante are charged with felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury and recklessly causing a fire to an inhabited structure. The District Attorney’s Office says the blaze was started “during and within an area of a state of emergency,” which would require a mandatory state prison sentence if the suspects were convicted.
City of Los Angeles residents Brian Alan Anderson, William Thomas Coppock and Brian David Franks are also suspects in the case and are facing the same charges as Ullman and Lavorante. The Los Angeles trio pleaded not guilty in December, and they are scheduled to be in court on Aug. 5 to set a date for a preliminary hearing.
Malibu pool open
After a brief closure for repairs, the Malibu Community Pool is now open. Located at Malibu High School on 30215 Morning View Drive, the pool is available for recreation and lap swimming on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There are also swimming lessons and aqua aerobics classes offered.
Recreation and lap use costs $3 per day. For more information, call 310.589.1933.
Carbon Beach home selling for $65 million
Real estate investment banker Bill Chadwick has put his 10,500-square-foot Carbon Beach home on the market for $65 million. If sold, it would be the most expensive house ever sold in Malibu.
The house’s construction was controversial earlier this decade. After receiving city permit approval, it was challenged by music and movie producer Lou Adler in 2003 for violating the city’s beach stringline rule.
This conflict led to a call for a hearing by the Planning Commission. Council members Sharon Barovsky and Andy Stern then accused their appointed commissioners of violating the Brown Act, the state open meeting law for local governments. And they fired their appointees, Robert Adler and Deirdre Roney. Commission Richard Carrigan resigned from the commission in protest.
The Chadwick home includes six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a pub, wine cellar, gymnasium and a 75-foot pool.
Jr. Philharmonic auditions this month
The Jr. Philharmonic is holding auditions for its 72nd season through the end of the month. The orchestra is looking for advanced musicians ages 12 to 25 who play violin, viola, cello, string bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, alto sax, trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba, tympani and percussion. For more information, call 323.272.3667.
Longtime Malibu resident Ernst Katz founded the Jr. Philharmonic in 1937.
-Jonathan Friedman