The members of the Malibu Community Action Network say there is no need to replace the city’s general plan with another plan.
By Jonathan Friedman/Staff Writer
Some members of Malibu Community Action Network (CAN) are questioning the motives of Malibu 2020 Vision, the proposed long-range planning program the City Council has partially endorsed. On Saturday, the team that oversees the program is hosting a workshop at City Hall. Another one will take place in January at Malibu High School. About 500 people were invited, with about 50 to 60 expected to attend on Saturday. But CAN says nearly all of its members were excluded.
“Initially, out of the hopper nobody was invited, at least on my side,” said Steve Uhring, president of CAN. “It shows some amount of disingenuousness.”
Uhring said he was later invited when he spoke with somebody on the Vision Team. Rich Davis, who heads the team, said there was no intention to not invite certain people. He said those invited were picked through the homeowner’s association groups to make sure that a wide spectrum of Malibu would attend. Upon hearing from The Malibu Times that CAN members were upset over the guest list, he said he would make sure those people did get an invitation.
The City Council gave the Vision Team $25,000 in 2001 to go toward the preliminary stages of the project. Several presentations have been made to the City Council. The 2020 Vision Plan would be a multiyear effort, with the goal to create a guide for long-range city planning. A 10-member leadership team will be appointed to head the process, with five appointed by the City Council. During the program, citizen input would be gathered on what should be included in the plan through a series of workshops and community events. Davis said he hoped the process would involve as many as 3,000 households. The entire project could cost anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000. Davis said the team is in talks with the California State Water Resources Control Board to contribute some of the money. He said he hopes to go before the City Council in February to request its backing for the program.
Mayor Ken Kearsley has been a major supporter of 2020 Vision, saying it is essential the city have a plan for what it is going to look like in the future, and to put a focus on how the city will conduct its capital spending.
“This is not just a touchy-feely, put-it-on-the-shelf-and-forget-it thing,” Kearsley said. “It is a real look at what the city needs to be a city.”
But Uhring said the city already has that with the General Plan. CAN supporter Ozzie Silna, a champion of the General Plan, said he is cautious about what the purpose would be of Vision 2020.
“The General Plan already articulates a vision for Malibu,” he said. “Why are we raising this issue all over again, unless people feel the original vision is in conflict with their vision?”
Davis said the General Plan might actually be not what residents of Malibu want, especially since many of them are younger and newer to the community.
“Our General Plan is old,” Davis said. “It needs updating anyway. It didn’t come to grips with the priorities and what’s important in Malibu. The Vision Plan is breathing life into the General Plan because the General Plan is very limited. It is a legal document that doesn’t have a lot of life to it.”
Kearsley said another benefit the Vision Plan could bring to the community is give more people the desire to get involved. Earlier this year, a survey was distributed to determine the populace’s interest in supporting a bond measure that would go toward the construction of parks and recreation facilities. The results showed any bond put on the ballot for that purpose would be overwhelmingly defeated.
“When you get the people involved, the knee-jerk reactions start to go away,” he said. “Because that’s what saying ‘no’ all the time is. And it’s easy to just say ‘no.’
For that reason, Kearsley said he wanted as many people who are not normally involved in the Malibu political scene to be a part of Vision 2020. He said he did not want it to be another case of the usual suspects, including the councilmembers, determining Malibu’s future.