The Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy has officially agreed to rescind its park enhancement plan, but still will pursue overnight camping at Malibu’s parks. But the city will have a say.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Overnight camping still might have a future in Malibu, but the city government will now have a say in the matter. At its meeting on Monday, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy board (as well as the board of the SMMC’s sister organization, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority) voted to rescind the approval of its Malibu parks enhancement plan that only required approval from the California Coastal Commission, and not the city of Malibu. The board had already given its tentative support to rescinding its approval of the plan two weeks ago during a closed-session meeting. Therefore, the Malibu City Council was able to anticipate the conservancy’s action for this week and last Wednesday it voted 4-1 to approve an agreement with the SMMC that the entities would work together on amending the Malibu Local Coastal Program to allow overnight camping in Malibu. Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich voted against it.
According to the agreement, within 90 days, the SMMC will submit an LCP amendment application to the city. An LCP amendment must ultimately be approved by the Coastal Commission. Although it is not specified what the state agency must request in its amendment, the previous proposal for overnight camping at Escondido Canyon is off the table. Instead, the application will be for overnight camping at the city-owned Charmlee Wilderness Park, which is located in West Malibu. Also, the city has offered to expand the plan to include trips to the Charmlee Nature Preserve, Corral Canyon Park, the Point Dume Headlands and Zuma Beach.
The conservancy will also likely apply for overnight camping at Corral Canyon. And SMMC Executive Director Joe Edmiston said after last night’s conservancy meeting that he likely would apply for overnight camping at Ramirez Canyon Park, which was the most controversial element of the original SMMC plan.
“We now have a chance to have that debate in front of the [City] Council rather than in front of a body made up of people that lives in other places,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Jennings, responding to various criticisms of the proposal.
One of the major issues is Charmlee Park, which is deed-restricted for passive recreation. An attorney from local attorney Frank Angel’s law firm, which represented local homeowners in a lawsuit in the ’90s that led to the deed restriction, said at last week’s council meeting that the deed restriction implied overnight camping was banned. Lucile Keller, whose husband Walt, was on the City Council when Malibu acquired Charmlee from the county, also spoke out against having overnight camping at Charmlee, and the potential fire hazards it presented.
Walt Keller wrote about the issue in a letter to The Malibu Times this week, “Who in their right mind would support overnight camping and the associated risk of brush fires in the mountains above the city? Four of five City Council members, that’s who!… Malibu neighborhoods should not be pitted against each other and there should be no campgrounds in the mountains anywhere above the city to bring on uncontrolled brush fires.”
Many Ramirez Canyon residents have also been vocally opposed to overnight camping at the conservancy’s property there because of fire risks and the narrow access for emergency vehicles to the area. Steve Amerikaner, the attorney for the Ramirez Canyon homeowners, said he was at least pleased that a plan for Ramirez Canyon overnight camping would not be going straight to the Coastal Commission.
“We think that camping in residential neighborhoods in unnecessarily hazardous,” Amerikaner said on Tuesday. “But the difference is now we will have a forum at which we can be heard.”
At Monday’s conservancy meeting there was general optimism about the recent turn of events. Edmiston said he was pleased the city and the conservancy were working together, for the moment. The agreement received approval from all board members in attendance. Jerome Daniel, an appointee of Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, said he was skeptical about Malibu being cooperative, but he voted for the agreement anyway.
The original SMMC plan called for enhancements and overnight camping at the parks in Ramirez, Escondido and Corral canyons. Calling it a public works plan, the proposal did not need to go before the city for approval, but rather only the Coastal Commission. Malibu officials and many residents cried foul, saying the plan violated the city’s LCP for several reasons, including that the city government had no input. Edmiston admitted he was avoiding the Malibu government during an August conservancy meeting, when he said he was doing so because Malibu officials did not support regional parks, an accusation city leaders have denied.
The city has filed two lawsuits against the conservancy regarding its original plan, and the conservancy has one against the city. With the agreement, all litigation has been set aside. However, this has done nothing to eliminate a lawsuit against the conservancy by Ramirez Canyon homeowners and various anti-tax activists over its use of voter-approved bond money for the proposed project. Those filing the lawsuit said the money could not be used for that purpose. The lawyer handling that suit said the agreement does not affect the lawsuit because the money was still used improperly.
Amerikaner said his clients will continue to challenge the conservancy’s use of the property for its offices and what he says are other illegal uses, because the property is zoned for open space.
A judge rejected their attempt to kick out the conservancy last month. Amerikaner said earlier this month his clients would either appeal that ruling or attempt to remove the conservancy through another legal method.