The court of appeals ruled in favor of the City of Malibu this week, affirming an earlier decision that the city acted lawfully when permitting outdoor sports field lights at Malibu High School (MHS) in 2012.
The lights, which have already been constructed at the school, will remain standing unless further legal action is taken and proves successful.
The appeal was filed after a February 2015 Los Angeles Superior Court ruling said the city was within its rights to approve sports lights at MHS.
“The city did not abuse its discretion in approving the field lights on June 25, 2012. No further environmental study was required for the Field Lights Project,” Superior Court Judge Richard L. Fruin, Jr. wrote in the original 2015 ruling.
The 2015 decision came three years after Malibu City Council approved the lights.
According to plaintiffs — who include homeowner group Malibu Community Alliance (MCA) — the City of Malibu and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District ignored California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) stipulations since they did not take into consideration certain scientific literature and did not consider the field lights together with other ongoing projects at the high school.
They also alleged that the City Council overstepped its authority by superseding the Planning Commission, which did not discuss the item.
In 2012, the majority of Planning Commission members said they would have to recuse themselves from the decision based on conflicts of interest, making the body unable to have a quorum on the issue. Therefore, it passed by the commission and was sent straight to City Council, a move the MCA and co-plaintiffs argued was illegal.
According to Assistant City Attorney Trevor Rusin, the appeals court ruling “affirmed the city took the proper action.”
“This should be the end of the litigation,” Rusin, speaking at a Wednesday night special City Council meeting, went on to say. “They can ask for reconsideration, they can also ask to appeal to the Supreme Court of California — you never know.”
In a brief emailed statement to The Malibu Times, MCA President Cami Winikoff did not rule out the idea of continuing the fight against lights at Malibu High.
“We are disappointed with the judge’s decision, but we are continuing to explore all our options,” Winikoff said.
A longer version of the story will appear in The Malibu Times print edition and updated online.