The Malibu Planning Commission voted Monday night to approve a permit allowing the former Streisand property, now known as Ramirez Canyon Park, to legally operate as it has been, including administrative uses, special programs and employee training programs.
The park, which had been operating outside of allowed uses, has been the subject of controversy, including a lawsuit the city won against the California Coastal Commission (CCC), which had tried to limit uses within the city’s jurisdiction.
“They’ve been allowed to do all these things, that are now just being memorialized,” Rick Mullen, a Ramirez Canyon resident and a spokesperson for the Ramirez Canyon Preservation Fund homeowner group said. Several dozen members of the Ramirez Canyon Preservation Fund were present at Monday’s meeting.
“This property was donated by one of the residents of Ramirez Canyon to be an environmental retreat,” Mullen described. “It was never used for that.” Instead, said Mullen, large events and weddings had frequently taken place on the expansive property.
Barbra Streisand donated the land to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) in 1993, but rather than turning the land, which includes five residences, into an “environmental retreat,” residents have long complained that the MRCA had used the property to make money.
Private parties will not be an acceptable use, according to conditions approved by the Planning Commission in a 4-0 vote Monday. Commissioner John Mazza abstained from voting, stating he didn’t believe it should be a Conditional Use Permit issue.
The application approval came with a whopping 19 conditions, ranging from extremely specific lighting regulations to the number of special programs to take place on the land every week (two).
Two conditions were added by the commission: one states that special and training programs “shall be cumulative with, not in addition to, the identical programs authorized by [the] California Coastal Commission permit.” In other words, the two per week limit on programs can not be interpreted to actually be two per week in addition to CCC programs — it’s a cumulative number.
The second condition states that “the rental of the project site for private events is prohibited,” a condition supported by Mullen.
“I honestly feel like we’re going to have a nice happy ending to what has been a difficult relationship for many years,” Mullen said.
Paul Edelman, MRCA chief of natural resources and planning, also spoke at the meeting in support of the approval, though he expressed concern the limitation on the number of programs for seniors and at-risk youth could be detrimental for the community.
“If the city really wants to go in the direction of cutting down uses for seniors and at-risk youth in the facility, that’s the city’s prerogative,” Edelman said. “If that’s the way the city wants to go, we can live with that.”