The City Council narrowly passed an improvement plan for Cross Creek Road Monday. The project was approved by a vote of 3-1, with Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich abstaining.
The plan will widen Cross Creek Road to 18 feet per lane and eliminate the middle left-hand turning lane. Mayor Pro Tem Andy Stern, who cast the dissenting vote, said he was troubled about eliminating the turning lane because it could cause traffic backups. The road, which is located in the Civic Center Area next to the Malibu Country Mart, is being improved, according to the city, to ease access onto the street.
Also at the meeting, the council continued an item on vacating a public street easement on Broad Beach Road. The 90-square-mile piece of land lies adjacent to the Pacific Coast Highway and the Malibu West Swimming Club. Public Works Director Yugal Lall said it had been determined that the property could not be used for any purpose, even a parking lot, and that vacating the property would relieve the city of maintenance and liability responsibilities. But Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich said she was uneasy about just giving up the land. She said it should be looked at to see if the property could be used for bicycle parking. The staff will do further research and bring back the proposal at a later meeting.
The council also did not vote on an item to allow for the creation of an assessment district on a portion of Malibu Road. The local property owners had proposed creating the district so they could pay for the undergrounding of power lines. One resident of the proposed district, Joan Lavine, objected on several counts, including that the amount of money residential property owners would have to pay into the district would all be the same, regardless of the size of their properties. Lavine said this was unfair to the smaller property owners. The council agreed and asked for the firm that had created the district proposal for the property owners to conduct another public hearing and come back to the council with another proposal.