Some viewshed task force members worry that the ordinance would impose a “one-size-fits-all set of rules” for all neighborhoods within the city.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
The Malibu City Council’s subcommittee on zoning laws will soon tackle the controversial viewshed ordinance. The council voted unanimously last week to send a proposed ordinance created by a nine-member task force to the Zoning Ordinance Revisions and Code Enforcement Subcommittee, which consists of council members John Sibert and Jefferson Wagner, for review.
The subcommittee members will also review a rival minority report, which was created by two of the task force members who were not happy with the drafted ordinance.
Sibert and Wagner are assigned to take both documents as well as additional information to form a series of suggestions for a city viewshed law. City Attorney Christi Hogin will take those suggestions to craft a formal ordinance proposal that would need to go through an environmental review, followed by commission hearings and then an eventual vote by the city council and possibly the California Coastal Commission.
The task force’s draft ordinance favors the rights for ocean views over tree ownership. Advocates of ocean views elaborated on this during their comments to the council. Barry Tyreman, who sat on the task force, said this ordinance would “preserve the Malibu that we all moved to be part of.”
“Ironically, many of the street names [in Malibu] have become out of date,” Tyreman said. “The notion of Sea View and Bluewater is becoming, unfortunately, more and more rarefied as Malibu more and more takes on the characteristics of cornfields of Iowa more than what we came here to enjoy.”
Tyreman said the task force proposal would create an affordable method to settle disputes that would be “within the reach of middle class people who could afford the equivalent of a permit application.” He added that conflicts would be “90 percent resolved before the city even knew there was a dispute.”
The proposal calls for binding arbitration to be used for settling some conflicts, keeping the city out of the process for the most part. A major concern by some Malibu officials and others about a city viewshed ordinance is that it could put Malibu on the hook for huge costs. Rancho Palos Verdes, which has had such an ordinance for more than 20 years, spent nearly $325,000 last fiscal year on viewshed issues.
Suzanne Zimmer, who coauthored the minority report, painted a darker picture of the proposed ordinance. She said it is not in the public interest and serves those who drafted the law.
“The proposed draft ordinance is a blanket ordinance, which seeks to impose a one-size-fits-all set of rules on every neighborhood in this city,” Zimmer said. “It is contrary to the values and set of identity that is Malibu … [and puts the city on a] path to becoming a managed community, a concept at complete odds with the Malibu way of life.”
She added, “We cannot take away property rights from people who bought their homes in good faith, telling them the trees and privacy they paid for are no longer theirs.”
The council members did not elaborate significantly on the ordinance proposal. Council member Pamela Conley Ulich said she did not want any law put into place that would be a heavy financial hit to the city.
“I’d rather see that put into teen programs and other great programs for the city rather than cutting down trees and letting trees grow.”
Mayor Andy Stern had in the past criticized the task force members for creating a draft ordinance, saying the members had “squandered time and money” because they were only supposed to come up with ideas about view issues. Stern admitted the next week that he had not actually read the proposed ordinance, although he dismissed the notion that this devalued his early statements.