As a former chair of the Planning Commission, I would like to join former Chair Richard Carrigan in his support of John Mazza’s complaints that the Planning Department is not following the policies of the LCP, Zoning Code and General Plan, but rather, making their own fuzzy interpretations of clearly stated and mandated policies containing the word “shall’ which are not open for interpretation. The word “shall” is a mandatory directive, meaning, you will. Ergo, John Mazza was correct in his reading of the hillside and view protection policies of the LCP, and the project required a variance. It could not be processed as an administrative permit, without a public hearing before the Planning Commission.
It is very clear to me that during the past few years the Planning Department has failed miserably in correctly applying the policies of either the Zoning Code or the General Plan, and now, the LCP. The council, for some bizarre reason, fails to recognize the fact that if development projects were correctly and properly processed, there would be few appeals, i.e., such as the neighborhood standards policies of the Zoning Code that have been completely ignored. This is due in large measure because the developers and development facilitators, with vested interests, are far too cozy with planning staff, sitting on committees such as the Architects and Engineers and giving direct input to the Planning Department on favorable “interpretations” and/or new or amended policies of the Zoning Code, which are beneficial to their personal projects. This is outrageous and should not be tolerated.
Counter to former Chair Richard Carrigan’s statement that “…the process can become corrupted,” it is my conclusion that the process is already corrupted and the whole planning system completely broken in the City of Malibu.
Jo Ruggles / Former Chair, Planning Commission