The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy also wins lawsuit allowing it to continue operating offices at Ramirez Canyon site.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Board in a 4-1 vote last week approved the controversial plan to build campsites and a trail system throughout five Malibu parks. The proposal, which is opposed by many local residents and the Malibu city government, will go before the California Coastal Commission some time next year.
Meanwhile, the SMMC learned on Monday that it would be able to keep its offices on the Ramirez Canyon property donated to it by Barbra Streisand. A Simi Valley judge ruled against the Ramirez Canyon property owners in their lawsuit to remove the SMMC from the site.
At a meeting on Nov. 29, several SMMC board members said, prior to the vote, that although the plan has received a great deal of criticism, locals would enjoy the park enhancements after the project is completed.
“I’ve been doing this for 23 years and I don’t know of a single acquisition we’ve made or a single proposal that we’ve put forward that has not been ultimately successful,” said Board member Jerome Daniel, who serves as a designee of Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. “So please, back off, don’t be so concerned about what’s going to go terrible in your community. We’re not in the business of making things worse. We’re in the business of bringing to the people of the state of California what they entrusted us to bring.”
Ron Schafer, a board member who also serves as a state Department of Parks and Recreation superintendent, said, “In 10 years, I’ll bet you any money that everyone’s going to be relatively happy with it. There will probably be problems that come up, but we will work through them.”
The meeting, which took place at an SMMC property in Beverly Hills, had a quiet atmosphere with a small attendance. This was in sharp contrast to the recent hearing on the plan in Malibu that attracted more than 100 people and was often chaotic as speakers for and against the project were heckled and booed.
The lone vote in opposition to the plan came from Linda Parks, a county supervisor from Ventura. She said she supported the extensive trail plan the SMMC had proposed, but she was concerned about the potential fire risks from the planned overnight camping sites. Parks said she also regretted that the SMMC had not worked closely with Malibu city staff on the proposal. Malibu city officials have complained the proposal has left the city in the dark, especially because it only needs approval from the SMMC board and the Coastal Commission.
The proposal, officially called the Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan-Public Works Plan, calls for the enhancement of the conservancy-owned parkland at Ramirez Canyon, Escondido Canyon and Corral Canyon, including the establishment of overnight camping grounds and the development of a trails system that would also connect with the parks at Zuma/Trancas Canyon and Solstice Canyon. Additionally, a 30-car parking lot in Escondido Canyon is proposed.
Park area residents and Malibu city officials have complained about the added traffic the project would bring on the narrow access roads to the parks, an alleged lack of a proper public process on the plan’s passage (including accusations that there were not enough hearings in Malibu and that documents were not made public early enough for adequate review time) and the risk of fire from the campsites in areas that are already fire-prone and difficult for firefighters and other emergency responders to access.
SMMC Executive Director Joe Edmiston addressed the fire issue at the meeting, saying Ramirez Canyon campers would be better off in a fire situation than the local residents.
“Residential houses don’t have [the conservancy’s water supply],” Edmiston said. “They don’t have a dedicated fire engine. They don’t have trained firefighters.”
The proposal also calls for daily programs at Ramirez Canyon Park “designed to provide access and recreation opportunities primarily for disadvantaged youths, physically challenged visitors, and seniors” seven days a week from 8 a.m. to dusk. Additionally, the park would be used for 16 special events per year, with no more than one per week, from March through October; 12 tours and/or small gatherings per months with a 60-person maximum and year-round outreach programs of up to 40 people.
An amendment was added to the plan that states if the Coastal Commission adjusts the proposal before voting on it, which is likely to happen, the proposal would go back to the SMMC board for review.
The parks plan already been legally challenged before last week’s board passage. A lawsuit was filed in a Ventura County Superior Court in October by a group that includes Ramirez Canyon property owners and anti-tax activists. The group claims the conservancy has illegally funded its plan and the litigation to defend it with Proposition 50 bond money. Steve Amerikaner, an attorney for the Ramirez Canyon property owners, has in past interviews alluded to a possible lawsuit challenging the entire project itself on various grounds.
Meanwhile, the Ramirez Canyon property owners on Monday lost a lawsuit asking for a judgment prohibiting the conservancy from using its Ramirez Canyon property for its offices, because it was zoned by the city for open space. Simi Valley Judge Jean Anderson cited technical reasons for rejecting the suit, but he also wrote in his ruling that having offices on a property did not violate the city’s designation of the property as open space. Attorney Corin Kahn, who argued the case for the property owners, said on Tuesday that his clients would most likely appeal the ruling.