The swimming pool will remain at Malibu’s most-expensive hotel.…
11 hundred dollars a night … but a cease and desist order from the city means no swimming at the Malibu Ryokan Hotel.
And no poolside cocktails … either.
Scientists warn …the ocean is going to go up … at least 1 to 4 feet in the next two decades…
And Lee Baca makes a last ditch appeal to avoid federal prison.
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This is Malibu’s only local daily news.
It’s the (((( time ))) edition of the ((( Tuesday ))) news … from Radio Malibu …. 97 point 5 K B U.
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Good morning Malibu!
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Malibu’s Planning Commission gave tacit approval Monday to a cease and desist order issued by the city against the Malibu Ryokan hotel.
Customers of the 11 hundred dollar per night hotel are not allowed to use a lap pool … constructed for their benefit on a lot next door to the hotel.
The city has placed the pool “off limits” because it owners of the hotel made a deal with the adjacent Tidepool Gallery, a former art house, to have hotel customers use the brand-new lap pool.
The Tidepool has been converted to a health club . and hotel guests are automatically enrolled in the health club.
But the city says the health club does not have permits … and does not have enough parking to get permits.
Patrick Perry is attorney for the hotel.
He said last night the hotel thought it was following the rules … and doing the right thing.
HOTEL POOL AAAA
“We had no reason to think that there was anything other than full approval for what we were proceeding to do, so now a significant amount investment has been made in the property. And then when everything was done, open for business, the health club including the pool and the deck, was open for business, we received a cease and desist order.”
But commission chairman Mikke Pierson said the city’s tentative approval of the concept, on specifically pointed out that the health club would have to go through a permitting process, including proving that the health club had enough parking.
HOTEL POOL BBBB
“What’s caught my attention that’s frustrating is when (fellow commissioner) John Mazza and I sat on the deck with the applicant team to get that first approval, we said `well, clearly this is for the hotel’ and they just said ‘no it’s not. It’s just, it’s just for the office building, not for any other usage’. We said, ‘well, you sure?’ and (they said) ‘nope, just that’ and it was clear that it was, and it is, and that’s frustrating.”
Planning commissioners also made it clear that the so-called health club does not have legal authority to serve alcohol … although the hotel does.
That means the hotel cannot allow its guests to drink cocktails on the deck overlooking the lap pool and the ocean.
Mazza revealed that he had tried to block construction of the hotel’s lap pool by appealing city council approval of it to the California Coastal Commission.
But after the applicants promised the gallery’s pool was part of a health club and not the hotel, Mazza said he dropped the appeal, allowing the pool to be built.
The hotel owner is now asking the city to change the zoning map and the L-C-P to allow hotel guests to use the pool.
If the city approves that … it would also have to be approved by the Coastal Commission.
That process may take up to two years.
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In other action … the Planning Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve the annual Malibu Kiwanis Club Chili Cook-off’s permits for vacant land at the Civic Center, over the Labor Day weekend. Commissioner Steve Uhring had in the past opposed past Chili Cook-offs as a loud intrusion on nearby homes … including his ….
He voted in favor of it this year.
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Trancas Country Market got permission to increase the quality and capacity of its onsite sewage system last night, also.
The shopping center has been struggling with a lack of sewage capacity for the two restaurants that it has city permission to open.
Trancas Country Market may be back later ask the city for permission to open additional restaurant facilities.
But the company says that … in -NO- case … will it ask for configurations that seat more than the 220 seats already approved by the city.
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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … 97.5 K B U. ((( time ))))
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The L-A Times reports today that coastal cities elsewhere in California are beginning to grapple with an increase in sea levels of at least 1 to 4 feet … in the next two decades.
According to a new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the number of U.S. communities that would flood more than twice a month could double to 170 in just the next 20 years orso …. if sea levels increase by four to six feet by the end of this century.
Such an increase would move the oceanfront inland… dramatically in some places.
Mission Beach … Mission Bay would disappear.
Three major airports would go under water … San Diego … San Francisco and Oakland.
In Malibu … that would inundate P C H at Zuma Beach.
The Malibu Colony … and other oceanfront neighborhoods … would be jeopardized in storms.
The Coastal Commission is already talking about what they called managed retreat from some beaches.
That’s already happening in Ventura … where a state campground at McGrath Beach … and a parking lot near downtown Ventura…. have been abandoned.
Cities in other places in California are preparing for this.
Malibu … not so much.
At Zuma Beach … for example … Caltrans is going ahead with plans for a new bridge over Trancas Creek that very possibly will be under water in the not too distant future.
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Malibu is not the only city going through contortions to try to find places for new parks and athletics fields.
Santa Monica is exploring ripping out the parking lot next to the Civic Auditorium … to build a softball field for Santa Monica High School.
For about 9 million dollars … a temporary field would be out in …
The city and the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District were talking about a 94 million dollar parking garage next to the auditorium … and next to SaMo High School.
The 700-space underground parking garage would have fields on top of it.
But that plan has been rejected … at 95 million dollars way too expensive.
One city council member said she could not in good conscience justify spending 40-50 million dollars on parking.
Parking removal is Santa Monica’s broader traffic reduction plan.
But that means the plan is to remove several hundred parking places … right next to the L-A County courthouse … with no plans to replace them.
The county probation department … for example .. says it has 800 people a month who have to check in and who would lose parking.
Advocates of turning the now-disused Civic Auditorium into a Santa Monica arts center also worry about removing parking for the historic venue.
Santa Monica city leaders say people trying to get to the courthouse or civic auditorium should take the bus or the Expo Line.
But there are not enough trains or buses running now … to handle that crowd.
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This afternoon … from 2-8 p.m., the American Red Cross will be holding a blood drive at Leo Carrillo State Beach, 35000 Pacific Coast Highway.
The American Red Cross issued an emergency request for eligible blood and platelet donors to give, due to a critical blood shortage.
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L A County’s former top lawman … and the de facto police chief for malibu … has avoided surrendering to federal prison … for now.
The L-A Daily News reports that former sheriff Lee Baca has filed a motion asking the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to allow bail pending a request for another trial.
The filing automatically triggers a temporary stay, meaning Baca does not have to surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons today.
Baca’s attorney says the ex-sheriff should be allowed to remain at home … because he is “75 years old and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and is not a danger to the community nor a flight risk.
Baca was sentenced to three years in federal prison in May for obstructing justice.
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Traffic …
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Weather for the Malibu ….
Patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 71 )))) degrees today on the beach … (((( 88 )))) inland.
Downcoast winds will be quite strong … up to ((( 25 )))) miles per hour this afternoon.
Sunset tonight is at (((( 7:58 )))).
After that … expect it to be ((( windy )))) tonight … a low of (((( 60 )))) on the beach …also down to (((( 60 )))) in the canyons.
Tomorrow should be (((( a little warmer )))).
Right now … at Trancas it’s (((( 67 )))) degrees.
In upper Malibu Canyon … (((( 65 )))) .
And at Civic Center Los Angeles … (((( 70 )))).
In the ocean … it’s (((( 67 )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.
The lifeguards say the waves today are (((( 1 to 2 )))) feet high ….
(((( There’s a minimal blend of NW wind swell and southerly swell. ))))
Those are (((( poor to fair )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.
((((( The first high tide is at 12:16 PM.
Low tide is at 5:34 P-M.
The major high tide … 5-point-9 feet … is at 11:36 tonight. ))))
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