The equestrian-oriented inn and spa would call for development of 141 acres across from State Parks’ King Gillette Ranch and would include 203 units and five custom single-family homes.
By Hans Laetz / Special to the Malibu Times
Plans for a controversial multistory timeshare and equestrian oriented-resort proposed for the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains may be delayed further, as the matter is referred to Calabasas residents for a November advisory vote.
By a 3-2 vote, the Calabasas City Council decided to check with its voters to see if the project should proceed. Opponents who live near the site, but outside Calabasas, say they expect Calabasas residents to approve the advisory vote because its negative impacts will be felt mostly outside the city, along rural stretches of Mulholland Highway and Malibu Canyon/Los Virgenes roads.
Although the city continues to evaluate the project’s Environmental Impact Report, one councilman said the fall vote casts enough of a doubt on the project to delay it until the Calabasas votes are cast.
“I think this will add delays; the developer is stymied in his efforts to answer the public’s comments on the project,” said Calabasas Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Washburn, who is one of two council opponents of the election.
But Councilperson Mary Sue Maurer said “an annexation of this large a scale will heavily impact the people of Calabasas, so it is very important to get their opinions on it.”
The Malibu Valley Inn and Spa is proposed by developer Brian Boudreau for his 491-acre rolling horse property on Mulholland Highway across the road from the King Gillette Ranch, the soon-to-be former home of Soka University that was just purchased for $35 million by several parks agencies.
That 588-acre ranchland is destined to become the visitors’ center and headquarters for the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and adjacent Malibu State Park. Parks officials have opposed the three-story timeshare buildings proposed by Boudreau in a line just across Mulholland from the bucolic park headquarters, which was the subject of a 30-year campaign for public ownership.
Although access to the proposed inn and spa would remain along Mulholland Highway through unincorporated Los Angeles County, Boudreau proposes to have it annexed into nearby Calabasas, which would gain $1.8 million annually in sales tax revenue from the development.
The multistory resort lodgings along Mulholland Highway east of Malibu Canyon/Los Virgenes roads are bitterly opposed by most mountain residents, who are fresh from their 30-year battle against urban development at the Gillette Ranch.
Washburn opposes the November Calabasas vote.
“Frankly, the vote gets in the way of the orderly processing of the proposal,” he said in a telephone interview. But many Calabasas residents favor the cachet that the exclusive resort would bring to the area, and the sales tax revenue that would enhance local services. Homeowners associations in Calabasas have generally favored the inn, while those out in the county generally oppose it.
Washburn points out that, although only Calabasas residents can vote in the advisory city election, residents of Malibu or unincorporated Los Angeles County have the opportunity to campaign for or against the project with the Local Agency Formation Commission. That countywide agency will decide if the Calabasas annexation and development plan is acceptable to surrounding communities and proper land use.