We have on our hands, for better or worse, Planning Commissioner John Mazza. Judging by his performances during Commission hearings, he is either a budding Oliver Wendell Holmes or a busybody grown too big for his britches who likes to hear himself talk, or something in between. At the most recent Planning Commission hearing, he relieved himself with five minutes of gratuitous criticism of a recent City Council decision to allow a staircase down a bluff at Point Dume. This he chose to characterize as illegal since such a facility directly contravenes a specific section of the law embodied in Malibu’s Land Use Plan and, by inference, he slandered Council members Stern, Barovsky and Sibert as criminals.
However, it seemed clear that the Council’s decision rested on a section of the LUP that allows for variances, as all laws do in one way or another. Maybe Commissioner Mazza is unaware of the variance concept, or perhaps he recognizes its use only when consistent with his personal view of a matter. Either way, I wish he would take less time talking. None of us is getting any younger.
Don Michael