Editor’s note: The publisher has requested that this letter, which was excerpted last week, be printed in its entirety.
You may have heard that Sierra Club Attorney Frank Angel has lost his legal baffle to Daniel and Luciana Forge, owners of the Beaurivage Restaurant located in Malibu, California. Malibu attorney Alan Block represented Mr. And Mrs. Forge. According to local newspapers, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs ruled against the Sierra Club in its lawsuit challenging the city of Malibu’s approval of the Forge Lodge Bed and Breakfast project.
Over a three day period, Judge Janavs listened patiently to Mr. Angel’s plethora of arguments-from saving the steelhead trout, to the project EIR is invalid, from the proposed bed and breakfast is an encroachment of the 100 foot setback rule to a note being improperly passed to a city council member after a public hearing was closed, etc. Judge Janavs then said “No” to Mr. Angel and the Sierra Club! She was obviously aware of the history of this long drawn out effort by the Sierra Club and their representatives to “kill” this project.
But there is more to this issue than Mr. Angel’s recent defeat!
In 1979, Mr. And Mrs. Forge purchased the run-down property located near the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Corral Canyon Road. A couple of business structures located on the property when purchased were in dire need of a bulldozer and reconstruction. The Forges quickly took care of that eyesore. Three years later, the Forges initiated applications to obtain permits to create and construct their now world-renowned Beaurivage Restaurant, a visual oasis on an otherwise unsightly major highway. That permit application has now dragged into 20-plus years with the Forges working through layers of governmental agencies.
During the process they were forced to dedicate portions of their property to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. When Malibu first became a city, the Forges’ property was down-zoned from Unlimited Commercial to Limited Commercial, further restricting their intended plans. Emerging upon the scene and creating financially costly and time consuming years for the Forges were the radical environmentalists of the Sierra Club. These non-resident spokespersons for the Sierra Club were bent on making the Forge project so difficult or impossible to accomplish that Daniel and Luciana Forge, soon entering their eighties, would give up and walk away from their dream. The opinion of those close to the issue here in Malibu assume the real intent of that handful of Sierra Club radicals is not only to kill the Forge Bed and Breakfast project, but also to financially drive or tire Daniel and Luciana off of their property. The ultimate aim being to have the land acquired or confiscated by federal agencies and deeded to the National Park Service as part of the immediately adjacent NPS Solstice Creek Park.
But, these radicals and the giant Sierra Club have mistakenly taken on the wrong Daniel (and Luciana) as well as their two feisty sons who, if necessary, have been given the responsibility to continue this battle long after the Forges and their adversaries have left this world. Daniel and Luciana have also taught their 11 grandchildren well, with the lesson being, if they work hard in America, as Grandma and Grandpa have done, they will be rewarded! This couple generously, but quietly, donates food and financial contributions in supporting community activities or events. But they have a side that the Sierra Club radicals may not be aware of, and thus the reason Daniel and Luciana are still standing! While in their teens, both grew up and lived under ideologies similar to those wishing to take their land today. Daniel and his family survived the Nazi occupiers of France and Luciana with her family lived under and survived the Fascist Mussolini in Italy. Thus their strong and determined survivor character!
The Sierra Club and its leadership should know that most of us and our 13,000 Malibu population are environmentally sensitive but do draw the line at reasonable restriction versus prohibition and fair play versus foul play! You might be led to believe otherwise by the shrill voice coming from the extremists from within (and out!) of our community, but you can probably count on two hands those radical environmentalists among us. If you are wondering why the reported diminishing Sierra Club membership is taking place around the country, you need only to look within! Should the Sierra Club decide to appeal and/or financially fund or support the appeal of the recent decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs, you will find a response in the making. “Friends of the Beaurivage,” consisting of property rights supporters, are now exploring the potential for litigating the Sierra Club and those who have represented the Sierra Club (by name) in public hearings and the courts for “harassment” and causing the Forges “pain and suffering” throughout these past 20 years.
After years of unnecessary suffering due to the efforts of the Sierra Club and their representatives, Daniel and Luciana have finally won their day in court fair and square. And that is supposed to be the way it is in our America.
Jerry Jackson