The city council wants the university to compensate for any increases in public safety costs to the city that might result from the expansion.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The Malibu City Council voted Monday night to send a letter supporting Pepperdine University’s campus expansion plans, on the condition that the university pay the city for any increases in public safety costs that result from the expansion.
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the expansion, called the Campus Life Project, is scheduled to be heard by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission May 4.
The City of Malibu has no power to approve or deny the project, since the university is not within city limits, but it can write a letter to the county recommending approval or denial. The city sent a letter in January to the county, highlighting concerns it had regarding increased traffic and safety concerns that would arise from the traffic.
The project proposes nearly 400,000 square feet of new development on 365 acres of existing campus land. The development would add 468 beds, expand athletic stadium seating by almost 2,000 to a total of 5,470 seats, add outdoor lighting to the women’s soccer field, build a welcome center and add a parking lot for the School of Law.
The key sticking point between university officials and the city council centered on possible increases in public safety costs to the city as a result of the project. Mayor John Sibert suggested that Pepperdine compensate Malibu for those increases, a suggestion which won quick support from the rest of the council.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner proposed that in exchange for the city’s support of the project, Pepperdine compensate the city for some or all of the cost of one Sheriff’s deputy, at $250,000 per year. Going by the university’s total enrollment of 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students, City Manager Jim Thorsen estimated the cost at about $84 per student.
Pepperdine University attorney Cindy Starrett responded that the university already provides an economic benefit to the city through sales tax revenue, employment to Malibu residents and volunteer activities in Malibu by Pepperdine students.
“This is a new concept to us that Pepperdine would be asked to pay the city a sort of tax per student,” Starrett said. “I think it’s something that we’d have to think about for a long time before we could come to any kind of agreement on that.”
Wagner acknowledged the university’s economic benefit to Malibu, but also noted the city government is on a fixed $6.1 million contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and any cost above that would be borne by Malibu taxpayers.
“I know that during the construction of this project, that we’re going to be contributing a lot more deputy time than we do now … I don’t think it’s an extraction of anything more than we’re covering our butts,” Wagner said.
The project had previously encountered resistance from residents of neighboring Malibu Country Estates. The homeowners feared the project would result in irreversible noise and traffic problems. However, Pepperdine officials and representatives of the Malibu Country Estates Homeowners Association announced at Monday’s council meeting that they had reached an agreement on mitigation measures for those problems. Bill Cacciatore, speaking for the Malibu Country Estates HOA, said the project now had “total approval” from the association.
But Steve Uhring, speaking for the Malibu Township Council, said his group still had concerns about traffic, light pollution and other issues. Uhring questioned the addition of high-intensity lights to a soccer field, baseball field and recreation field, speculating that the lights could potentially shine for 365 nights a year.
When Wagner asked Pepperdine Chief Administrative Officer Phil Phillips if the high-intensity lights would shine at night, Phillips said they would.
Mayor Pro Tem Laura Rosenthal asked Rhiannon Bailard, assistant vice president of Pepperdine’s Center for Sustainability, Governmental & Regulatory Affairs, if the university was going to increase enrollment to pay for the expansion. Bailard said Pepperdine was technically allowed to add up to 600 full-time equivalent students, but that “we have no plans to increase enrollment as a result of this project.”
Councilmember Lou La Monte seemed unconvinced that traffic problems would not result from the project.
“We’ll let it evolve and see what happens, and if it becomes a more serious problem for us, I can assure you, you will hear from us,” La Monte said.
The council Monday night instructed staff to prepare a letter to the county’s Regional Planning Commission stating that the City of Malibu’s support was contingent on the county requiring that the university compensate the city for extra public safety expenses. The condition would state that the university and the city would negotiate to determine adequate compensation.