The street is renamed for longtime Malibu resident and entrepreneur Dudley Murphy.
By Ward Lauren / Special to The Malibu Times
Deftly sidestepping between a controversial homeowners’ request to change their street name and a perceived need to preserve names of historical significance, the City Council on Monday approved the renaming of De Butts Terrace to Murphy Way.
The new name is in honor of longtime resident and entrepreneur Dudley Murphy, who owned and operated Holiday House on Pacific Coast Highway near Via Escondido 45 years ago. The former restaurant, bar and motel is now Geoffrey’s Malibu.
Murphy owned property that included the upper falls at the end of Escondido Canyon. His daughter, Erin, lived there for many years while raising a family of five. The existing road to the property, which connects to De Butts Terrace, is named Murphy Motor Way.
De Butts Terrace is named for the deButts family, who lived on the street for several decades beginning in Malibu’s early years.
But residents of the street said the name has become the victim of jokes, and they requested earlier this month that the council allow the street’s name to be changed.
However they were unable to get enough votes for the change, with some council members saying they were concerned about the city losing a historical reference.
The residents returned Monday with a proposal to change the name to The Overview, West Winding Way or Paradise View Way, and to create a bench with the deButts family’s name on it.
Some of the council members said they believed the name should be changed to Squeaky Mesa, the name of the column Forrest deButts-and later her mother Marianne-wrote for The Malibu Times. The council finally voted, with three in favor and two against, for the Murphy name.
Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Jennings and Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich voted against the name change. Jennings said, “This is more of an issue for the whole community. The street name was there when you built your homes and was no detriment to you then. I’m not going to support the name change.”
Several residents of the street spoke about the historical factor during the public comment portion of the meeting. Bryan Honkawa said he has tried to discuss the history of the deButts name with his daughters.
“They should be proud of where they live. I explain to them the historical part. But unfortunately what happens with young children, the children they talk to may not understand the problems that we have out here.”
Mayor Ken Kearsley, who voted for the new name, said that “change is hard.”
In other action, the council approved the Joint Use Agreement between the city and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, allowing community use of district facilities during non-school hours.
The council also heard arguments on the appeal of a Planning Commission approval of the installation of an electronic security gate at the entrance to Malibu Cove Colony Drive from Pacific Coast Highway. The council decided to delay a vote on the matter until the next meeting to allow time for the property owners association and the appellant, Emily Harlow, to work out an accord on the positioning of the gate, which was the cause of the appeal.
Also at the meeting, the council recognized employees who have been working for the city for seven years. The employees were Mark Boling, building inspector; Jena Chanel, telecommunications specialist; Sten Miles, building inspector; Roberta Morowitz, permit services technician and Gail Sumpter, manager of the Permits Services Division.
Monday’s meeting was shown live on the city’s Web Site. This is the first time that has ever been done. All City Council meetings are being shown live at www.ci.malibu.ca.us and will be archived on the site for one year.