In the early years of Malibu, its leaders were in the forefront of the struggle to protect our beautiful coast and mountains. Sadly, that no longer seems to be the case. An example is the Planning Commission’s recent approval of Forge Lodge. Forge Lodge is not the “bed and breakfast” it is represented as being. It is a very large motel-seven, two-story buildings, each the size of a large tract house, in narrow, wooded environmentally sensitive Solstice Canyon.
Solstice Creek (the stream along the east side of lower Corral Canyon Road) is not just another canyon. It is a year-round stream lined with beautiful white alders and sycamores. It is also the site of an attempt to restore a spawning run of the endangered southern steelhead. The National Park Service, which owns 600-acre Solstice Canyon Park, has joined forces with Caltrans and the Coastal Conservancy to take out man-made barriers to steelhead migration in the creek. The Forge property includes the only privately owned segment of Solstice Creek between the Solstice Canyon Park and the ocean.
Steelhead once spawned in a number of Southern California streams, but have become endangered because we have repeatedly sacrificed the streams they require for spawning to channelization, damming, encroachment, and pollution to make way for human development.
The Malibu General Plan protects our streams by requiring that new development be set back 100 feet from the edge of riparian habitats, but the Planning Commission exempted Forge Lodge from this rule, and the buildings will be as close as 50 feet to the riparian habitat, magnifying the risk of disturbance to the riparian ecosystem through brush clearance, erosion and pollution.
The Sierra Club and several local residents have joined in appealing the Planning Commission’s action to the City Council. We are asking the council to scale back the project and uphold the General Plan by setting it back 100 feet from the riparian habitat. The appeal will be heard by the City Council next Monday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
David M. Brown,
conservation chair
Santa Monica Mountains Task Force,
Sierra Club