The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s proposal to make changes to three local parks, without input from the city, has residents up in arms. The conservancy has agreed to mediation with a Ramirez homeowners group, and the group will hold off in filing an injunction against SMMC.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
At last month’s meeting in Burbank, former Malibu City Attorney Steve Amerikaner, while representing Ramirez Canyon homeowners, was a lone soldier speaking in opposition to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s proposal to enhance three of its park lands in Malibu. But at Monday’s SMMC board meeting at Webster Elementary School in Malibu, Amerikaner had company. More than 40 people, most living near the parks (Ramirez Canyon, Escondido and Corral Canyon), trashed the plan that they said would bring too many people to the area and did not follow city law.
The proposal, called the Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan, calls for Ramirez Canyon Park to have 10 outreach programs per month of up to 40 people and 12 bus tours every month of up to 60 people. Also, the park would host 16 special events that could include up to 150 people at eight of them and up to 200 at another eight. Additionally, overnight camping sites would be built at all three parks, a 14-vehicle parking facility would be developed at Escondido Park and picnic sites would be created at Ramirez Canyon Park. The campsites would be placed near and along existing trails and the trail system would be enhanced.
Prior to the hearing, SMMC officials announced the proposal would not go before the board for a vote Monday night because the Ramirez Canyon Preservation Fund, which represents the Ramirez homeowners, and the SMMC had agreed on Sunday to bring their conflict before a mediator on Aug. 11. A second mediation will also take place on an undetermined date. With this agreement, the Ramirez homeowners have said, for the moment, they would not pursue their injunction filed against the SMMC to remove its offices from the Ramirez Canyon property. Despite this announcement, the designer of the project still did a PowerPoint presentation on the proposal, followed by more than two hours of mostly angry opposition testimony.
When asked if he was surprised by the amount of opposition, SMMC Executive Director Joe Edmiston said, chuckling, on Tuesday, “Not at all. We’ve been doing projects in Malibu for 30 years.”
Since the proposal is a public works enhancement plan, it would not have to be approved by the city of Malibu, but rather by the California Coastal Commission. However, it must still follow the Malibu Local Coastal Program, and the people attending Monday’s meeting said this proposal does not do that.
“We’re all for trails … Since the project is in our backyard, why is it not managed by and involve the local agency [city of Malibu],” Ramirez Canyon resident Rick Mullen said. “Once it is developed, will the control go back to the city? If that’s the case, why does it involve things that are not allowed in Malibu?”
Local activist Marshall Thompson, a Malibu resident who does not live in this specific areas, said, “Looking at the overall plan… the amount of traffic and access is just unbearable, especially for the residents of Ramirez Canyon… Think carefully and tread lightly when you interfere with people’s quiet enjoyment of their properties.”
Another concern about the project is that the SMMC has said it does not believe it needs an environmental impact report for the areas, but rather it would do a less-intensive environmental review.
The proposal had already been sent to the Coastal Commission for review, but last week it was sent back to the conservancy because the SMMC had not formally adopted the proposal at a public hearing. With mediation on the way, and a great local opposition to the plan, Edmiston said he doubts there will be a public meeting at which the project in its current form will be approved by the SMMC board.
When asked what he would like to see come out of the mediation, he said, “I can’t comment because anything I say, pro or con, people are going to say, ‘You are prejudiced before the mediation.'”
But Edmiston did say, “I am an optimist at heart. So you can infer that I am optimistic.”
Amerikaner made a similar comment during an interview on Tuesday, saying he was “optimistic” the two sides “could come to a resolution.”
Since singer/actor Barbra Streisand donated the Ramirez Canyon property to the SMMC in 1993, it has been a point of controversy. Both the city and the local homeowners said they were troubled by what they said was the SMMC’s use of the property for various parties and other large gatherings as a money-making method because of the noise and traffic that it created, while they said the property was supposed to be open space. The city sued and eventually won at the Court of Appeal level, with the court saying the SMMC’s property was subject to Malibu law.
Later, the SMMC obtained a coastal development permit for the property without going through the city. That permit was set aside by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge last year after the Ramirez Canyon homeowners sued.
The conservancy this year declined to appeal the court decision, although it had previously said it would appeal. Amerikaner has said the current proposal is a method for the conservancy to avoid trying to get a new coastal development permit.
Ramirez homeowners later filed an injunction, saying the Ramirez SMMC property could only be used for open space and the conservancy could not have its offices there.