Improvements planned for Cross Creek Road
The city planning staff was expected to make a presentation on a Cross Creek Road improvement project at a Planning Commission meeting that took place on Tuesday evening after The Malibu Times went to print. According to a city staff report, the project, which is expected to be completed in May, will improve pedestrian safety by minimizing conflicts between pedestrian and automobile traffic along Cross Creek Road from Civic Center Way to Pacific Coast Highway.
The project includes removal of the existing street and discontinuous sidewalks. The existing roadway will be replaced with a gently winding, serpentine street, with traffic calming features that were approved by the Public Safety Commission. New pedestrian walkways and “appropriate street furniture” will be installed, according to the city. The existing drainage facilities will be replaced and/or rehabilitated to resolve ponding and poor drainage problems.
Other items highlighted in the staff report include:
-The existing broken, discontinuous curb and gutter will be replaced. The street profile and flow lines will be adjusted to allow for proper drainage.
-Catch basins, junction boxes, and piping will be installed as appropriate, to drain rainwater from the surface.
-The new street will eliminate the existing center turn lane, thereby reducing the paved width and increasing the parkway area.
-Additional parking spaces will be provided on the street and marked appropriately. The parking spaces will be marked and delineated from travel lanes. A Park and Ride area will be provided near the intersection with Civic Center Way.
-The existing broken, discontinuous concrete sidewalk will be replaced. Staff will investigate using decomposed granite in lieu of portland cement concrete. Wheelchair ramps will be provided where appropriate.
-Appropriate signage will be installed including speed limits, handicapped parking spaces, directional/informational signs and warning signs as appropriate.
-Appropriate street furniture will be provided utilizing materials traditionally used in Malibu, such as native stone and tile.
-Appropriate landscaping will be installed with an emphasis on drought-tolerant species, including native species.
-Minor utility relocation, irrigation system installation or relocation, and other appurtenant work required for the construction of the improvements listed above will be performed as part of the project.
Retail store limitation law on council agenda
At its meeting on Monday the City Council will consider an ordinance proposal drafted by Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich that would limit the number of future retail stores in Malibu. Current stores would not be affected. The proposed law would prohibit retail stores in the Las Flores, Point Dume and Trancas commercial districts. Retail stores would only be allowed in the Civic Center area if “the proposed use or feature, at the size and intensity contemplated and at the proposed location, will provide a development that is necessary or desirable for, and compatible with, the neighborhood or community.”
The council has the option to either approve the proposed ordinance or send it to the city’s Economic Advisory Group for review. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. City Hall is located at 23815 Stuart Ranch Road.
Coastal Commission vote on Geffen property delayed
The finalization of a deal over public access issues between the California Coastal Commission and entertainment mogul David Geffen concerning his Carbon Beach property was supposed to be heard next week, but the item has been delayed until next month. Geffen’s attorney, Steve Amerikaner, said some details still need to be worked out on the matter. That includes a disagreement over the Coastal Commission staff’s recommendation that a private stairway on the property not be approved.
Geffen remodeled his home in 1983, and agreed to offer a public access route from Pacific Coast Highway to the beach. But nobody would accept the responsibility of the access point for several years. Then in 2002, Steve Hoye of the nonprofit organization Access for All, agreed to do it.
Geffen then raised a series of legal challenges to his requirement to give up the access easement. After three years of court battles, Geffen eventually agreed to allow the easement. The Coastal Commission has agreed to approve most of the remodeling project as an after-the-fact permit. The exception is the stairway, which the Coastal Commission staff, according to its report, determined was located within the public easement. Next month’s Coastal Commission meeting will take place in Long Beach from Jan. 10-12.
City to celebrate completion of Pt. Dume trails
On Friday a “Walking School Bus” will transport students on foot to celebrate the completion of the Point Dume “Safe Routes to School” pathways. At 8 a.m., Mayor Ken Kearsley, along with students, City Council members, and residents who have gotten on the “bus,” will disembark and converge at the Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School’s Grayfox gate for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
In June 2006, after several controversial hearings, the City Council voted to fast-track the $445,423 project. The project is funded with $380,160 from the State of California’s Safe Routes to School program, $42,240 in city Traffic Safety Funds and $23,023 from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The commemorative “Walking School Bus,” organized by the Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School PTA, will take off from four different stops, beginning at 7:30 a.m., with adult supervisors stationed along the four routes. Students who live on the routes, feeder streets, or elsewhere are to wait in driveways along the routes to join the “Walking School Bus.”
The 7:30 a.m. loading points are: (Route 1) Wandermere Road at Heathercliff Road, where Kearsley will depart; (Route 2) Greenwater Road at Dume Drive; (Route 3) Cliffside Drive at Dume Drive; or (Route 4) Zumirez Drive at Wildlife Road.
A detailed “Walking School Bus” timetable can be found on the city’s Web site at www.ci.malibu.ca.us.
-Jonathan Friedman