Viewshed ordinance made top city priority

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Council also looks at possible paparazzi ordinance, a Civic Center plan and gray water ordinance.

By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor

More than 63 percent of the voters in April said the City Council should create a viewshed protection ordinance, and now the council is making it a top priority. At its Quarterly Review meeting last Wednesday the council placed the item as number one on its list of priorities for city staff.

But this does not mean a law will be on the books anytime soon. Environmental and Community Development Director Vic Peterson noted the recently approved viewshed protection ordinance specifically for the Malibu Country Estates neighborhood took more than two years to pass because of numerous hearings to sort out the conflicting opinions of the residents.

“I don’t want anybody walking out of here thinking this is going to be an easy process,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be a long, drawn-out process.”

City Councilmember Sharon Barovsky added, “This isn’t going to happen overnight even if we work at lightning speed.”

Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich suggested that city staff begin the process by speaking with homeowner groups, with the first neighborhoods approached being the ones where the highest percentage of voters in the April election favored drafting an ordinance. Peterson agreed with that concept, and city staff will first meet with Malibu Park homeowners. Malibu Park is also the neighborhood of Leon Cooper, who has been a vocal activist on this issue for several years.

The council set as a second priority the drafting of a plan for the Civic Center area regarding development. The council members stressed this would not be a Civic Center Specific Plan, which was the name of the document drafted by a committee in the 1990s and never approved or even voted on by a City Council. Conley Ulich and City Councilmember Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner will meet with landowners in the area to discuss if they are interested in development guidelines, including those with city benefits.

The council made a third priority of creating a gray water ordinance, which would involve the use of recycled water for gardening and other uses. Listed in a tie for third is the development of “green building” standards. Peterson said city planners are already working on this.

The fourth priority is the adoption of a formula retail ordinance, which would limit the number of chain stores in Malibu. The fifth priority is the passage of an ordinance that would encourage arts in the community.

Also at the meeting, the council voted to have its lobbyist talk to the California Department of Transportation about getting a bike lane on Pacific Coast Highway, west of Trancas.

The council members also agreed with resident Dennis Torres that a law is needed to require noise reductions for the many motorcycles traveling through Malibu on the weekends.

“On Saturdays and Sundays in the summer, it sounds like the Blue Angels are making low passes through the city, and it is impossible to carry on conversations in any outdoor setting near PCH,” said Torres, who said he knows canyon residents who refuse to stay at home during the weekends.

Paparazzi ordinance on council’s to do list

The council also said it would like to work on an ordinance to limit paparazzi bothering Malibu residents. Conley Ulich said she spoke with lawyers at the ACLU and Pepperdine University, including School of Law Dean Ken Starr, who were interested in helping to create language for such a law. City Attorney Christi Hogin told The Malibu Times in March that creating a paparazzi ordinance would be difficult because it brings up First Amendment issues.

Jolene Dodson, an assistant for Pierce and Keely Shaye Brosnan, said something needed to be done about the paparazzi in this celebrity-filled city, including making buffers at the schools. She told a story about how Pierce Brosnan was recently at lunch with a friend and was hounded by camera crews. He had to call Sheriff’s deputies for help. She said instances like this have happened frequently, even when Brosnan is with his children.

“They [celebrities] have to stay at their homes behind fences, and that’s no way to live,” Dodson said. “They’re not caged animals. They should be able to take their kids to the movies or to a park.”

Also at the meeting, Malibu Foundation for Youth and Families President Daniel Stern said he would be interested in working with the city toward the building of a teen center. He said although the Boys & Girls Club has attracted many middle school-aged children, there is nowhere to go for high schoolers. He said the lack of things to do leads to alcohol and drug use. “The problems that affect affluent communities are just as dangerous as the poorer communities,” Stern said. “But it’s tough to get that message out there because everybody thinks we’re taken care of.”

He said the city and the foundation must work together because nobody is sending money to Malibu.

The creation of a teen center is on Conley Ulich’s “First 100 Days” priority list.