Meanwhile, LUP opponents place ads in local papers detailing concerns with plan.
By Rachelle Kuchta/Special to The Malibu Times
The California Coastal Commission is conducting another hearing on the controversial and heatedly opposed Land Use Plan for Malibu next week in Huntington Beach, and has recently released the 318-page draft of the Local Implementation Plan (LIP), which outlines in detail what residents should expect on how the future regulations might change the way they live and work in Malibu.
CCC South Central Coast District Manager Gary Timm said, from a basic plan, the LIP is carrying out the policies in the Land Use Plan (LUP) in greater detail, explaining how many policies will actually work.
However, not all the details in the LIP mesh with the LUP, with some implementation policies countering policies outlined in the LUP.
Coastal gets control
The Coastal Commission drafted the LUP for the City of Malibu after the Legislature passed bill AB988, giving the commission authority to decide how Malibu will manage its coastline.
The handover of control to the Coastal Commission has been highly controversial, with city attempts to be involved in the process of planning for Malibu rebuffed, according to city insiders.
While CCC Executive Director Peter Douglas said, “Much of the concerns that you hear about are from people living outside of Malibu” about how the LCP will affect them in the future, “there’s been a lot of people in the City of Malibu, including city representatives, who have tried to stir up opposition.”
However, Timm said, “Much of it [the LIP] was prepared by the city. There will be no surprises based on discussions we’ve had with the city.”
“It’s a question of ‘to what extent do people make the effort to understand the plan?’ ” Douglas said.
The 19 chapters of the LIP outline several current issues in the city while also restating common public knowledge. A city summary of the LIP, analyzed by the city’s planning consultant, Lloyd Zola, was not available at press time.
In the third and longest chapter of the document, the commission uses 87 pages to state numerous restrictions on zoning districts, where many zoning regulations that were not specified in the LUP are included. Throughout this in-depth chapter, the commission outlines limits on everything from the height a new occupancy must not exceed to the number of parking spaces commercial lots are allowed.
ESHA changes made
Outlined in the LIP is what may be the most controversial issue in Malibu today-environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA) overlay zones.
Timm said the revised LUP and the LIP plan changes include revised ESHA maps, which will eliminate some areas previously devised as ESHAs. But, added Timm, “The maps are not the only factor that determines what is considered an ESHA.
“The key is what is actually on the ground. If it does not contain environmentally sensitive habitat, then the policies that apply to that habitat are not applicable to that property, regardless of what the map said,” said Timm.
A policy included in the LIP, which is in the process of being revised, is a statement that the city’s ESHA maps would need to be amended by the city every five years.
Timm said “It was a mistake to have included it in the LIP.”
He said the commission will reword the policy in a revised LUP and in notes to the LIP that no amendment will be necessary and that this policy will stand as a “guidance policy.”
“It is something that we believe that the city should do, but it will be up to them to decide what to include in a future LCP amendment,” he said. “It will not be a requirement prior to approval of development.”
Timm also noted, a few items in the LIP will counter statements in the LUP. In the zoning chapter of the LUP, the recommendation was to rezone multiple-family units in east Malibu to single-family zones. Timm stated the commission amended that statement in the LIP to disregard the single-family zone modification and that the units will remain multi-family units.
Opposition concerns called “hogwash”
Douglas said the opposition by to the LUP by those in Malibu, including some city representatives is “a disservice to the residents of Malibu.” For example, Douglas said people are saying the commission wants to eliminate all of the equestrian land uses.
“That’s hogwash,” he said. “It’s misrepresented.”
Input can be given to the CCC on July 10 at its public hearing at the Waterfront Hilton Resort Hotel in Huntington Beach. The LUP and LIP can be downloaded off the Internet at www.coastal.ca.gov.