City to consider swapping Charmlee for Bluffs Park

Amid ongoing efforts to find a permanent home for a skate park in Malibu, on Jan. 14 the City Council will consider negotiating a trade of Charmlee Wilderness Park to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and for full control of Bluffs Park. 

The City of Malibu has owned and controlled Charmlee’s 532 acres since 1998. In 2006 the city acquired 10 of 93 acres of Bluffs Park. The SMMC and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority own the other 83 acres.

In the aftermath of Papa Jack’s skatepark closing in 2011, the City of Malibu has been working to find a new site for a permanent skate park, with Bluffs as the most commonly mentioned possibility. There have also been talks of building a temporary skate park at Bluffs, but those were stalled when SMMC raised issues of public parking at the site.

In a report written by City Attorney Christi Hogin, she asks the Council for immediate direction on the “time sensitive” matter. 

“Recently, Mayor La Monte and Mayor pro Tem [Joan] House approached [SMMC Director] Joe Edmiston to see whether SMMC and MRCA had any interest in a swap — Charmlee for the rest of Bluffs,” a report by City Attorney Christi Hogin stated. “The SMMC and the MRCA are interested in swapping Bluffs Park for Charmlee, if the transaction commences in January.” 

The same report also states the the SMMC will only consider the swap if the city also agrees to negotiate a lawsuit settlement over Ramirez Canyon Park. The lawsuit, which disputes proper uses of the SMMC-owned Ramirez Park, was filed by the City of Malibu in the late 1990s.

For Hogin’s full report, click here.