Let’s put the blame, Mame, where it belongs. The California Coastal Commission passed its version of the Malibu Local Coastal Plan of its dreams on September 13, by a vote of 10 to 1. In Malibu, unpaid volunteer citizens collected signatures from 30% of Malibu voters in a petition asking for a referendum to “Let Malibu Decide.” Those petition signatures were turned in to Malibu’s City Clerk on October 10, 2002. The California Coastal Commission was notified on October 11, 2002.
What did that do? It suspended the California Coastal Commission’s Plan from becoming the law. It is not and will not be in effect until the special election and then only if the voter’s voice decides it will. The citizens have had no voice in this plan to date. The referendum is an action by the citizen voters.
Meanwhile, what does that mean? For those who are builders and architects and property owners, it means the city has no power to issue Coastal Development Permits. It is still the Coastal Commission that must do that. The city can only issue land use permits under the city’s general plan and zoning ordinance as usual.
So, if you need a Coastal Permit, you must apply to the Coastal Commission. Feel free to express your anger if they say no to Governor Gray Davis, and our representatives Fran Pavley and Sheila Kuehl. And perchance, if you believed as it was said last week, that the citizens should have happily accepted the proposed plan by the Coastal Commission because it would give the city great new power to issue Coastal Development Permits, then pause. There is a catch 22 in the proposed plan which will provide monumental chaos.
Under Ordinance 2, Definitions, Appealable Projects: “Everything done with your home can be appealed (by another) to the Director of the Coastal Commission for a hearing.” This includes from minor repairs on the house to horses, pools and non-native plant clearance. And the appeal procedures for such hearings are scattered like grains of salt and just as hard to find, imbedded throughout the Implementation Plan.
To date the computer has produced 12 single spaced pages of appeal procedures from this 500-page document. To appear to give away power while grabbing even more, takes a lot of hiding and cover-up. But ‘whomever’ must have known that becoming the ruler of the free city of Malibu would not be easy.
Checkmate.
Georgianna McBurney