The City of Malibu is in a really serious bind. The city owns little or no land for parks, ball fields, recreational use, a community center or open spaces in which the natural environment is preserved. Therefore, planning for these things is virtually impossible.
All the good reasons for delaying commercial development were used up in the last 10 years. Now we approach doomsday, particularly in the Civic Center. The Malibu Bay Company Development Agreement Plan, which gives us some land in exchange for development, has been talked about in three big neighborhood meetings in the past year.
Recently, the plans of at least five other Civic Center property owners were presented to the Malibu City Council. Some of us were so horrified by this specter of commercial overload that we requested the city show what this kind of vast commercialization would look like in a city like ours, which is so small it can’t possibly support it.
The resulting city guidelines are precisely that a worst-case scenario. Every one of us needs to be aware that this horrible possibility not only can take place, but will take place unless something is done.
One of the other options is the passing of a $15 million bond issue to buy land. Right now, the city is investigating land that is for sale, and state and government matching grants, which could be used to develop such land for public use. But without the money, we can’t buy the land. The bond issue is critical.
Georgianna McBurney