When the California Coastal Commission convenes in Chula Vista Wednesday, Aug. 12, several items close to home will be on the table, including issues of the Civic Center sewer, the Crummer Project, coastal access and a single family dwelling that raises view ordinance interpretation questions.
Commissioners will be tasked with reviewing and accepting the City of Malibu’s Local Coastal Program (LCP) Amendment for the Civic Center sewer project. According to the meeting’s staff report, the city’s amendments to the LCP, adopted June 22, have been found legally adequate. These amendments make it possible to build the planned sewer, to be located in the Winter Canyon area, and comply with directives given to the city during the commission’s May 13 meeting in Santa Barbara.
Next, there will be a public hearing and commission action on the proposed development at the so-called Crummer Project, an area overlooking Bluffs Park where landowners are hoping to construct five mansions. The last time the item was before the commission was in February, at which time commissioners heard many Malibu residents express unhappiness, claiming the houses would destroy views from Bluffs Park. There was also conflict because the land was, according to some documents, zoned to be low-cost visitor serving.
At that time, commissioners unanimously denied the project, but now, developers came back with something to sweeten the deal: $2 million pledged to go to the Mountains Recreation and Conservancy Authority (MRCA) for “rehabilitation and/or development of lower cost visitor serving coastal amenities” in the nearby area, along with a little over 1.6 acres of land. According to the staff report, some are saying the pledge to the MRCA is illegal, but commission staff recommend approval with three amendments.
Third on the list of the commission’s Malibu items is an appeal of the Malibu City Council’s decision to allow a single-family residence to be built in the Broad Beach neighborhood of Malibu that would effectively block 100 percent of ocean views for the house directly to its north. Carol Bird, a longtime resident and real estate agent, has been fighting the construction of a house in front of her property and pushing for some changes that would preserve a portion of her view.
Coastal Commission staff is suggesting Commissioners find “the appellant’s contentions … raise no substantial issue with regard to the approved project’s consistency with the policies and provisions in the City of Malibu’s certified LCP.”
Finally, the commission will hear a request to extend the deadline for a new coastal access point in Eastern Malibu, between Big Rock Beach and Las Flores Canyon. The access, which was initially approved as part of an agreement with developers at the June 2014 Coastal Commission meeting, will provide the only public beach access in the three-mile stretch between the access at Big Rock and the “East Carbon Beach” access point.
The applicants, Carbonview Limited, LLC, have ties to Oracle billionaire and Malibu homeowner Larry Ellison. As part of the 2014 agreement, they have pledged $400,000 to the MRCA to carry out the construction of the accessway. According to commission staff, the “very unique” project is consistent with the Malibu LCP.