Residents and city officials are planning to be at the Coastal Commission meeting next week to urge a ‘no’ vote on a plan that would allow overnight camping at three Malibu area parks.
By Olivia Damavandi / Staff Writer
The fate of the ongoing battle between the City of Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy over its proposed Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan, which would allow overnight camping in three Malibu canyon parks, will be decided by the California Coastal Commission at its June 10 meeting in Marina del Rey.
The commission, which usually supports public access, will vote next week on amendments proposed by the City of Malibu that would change its Local Coastal Program-the state-drafted document that sets zoning and building standards for Malibu development-to ban overnight camping in parks and recreation areas within city limits. The city’s proposed LCP amendments also request that a new access road into Ramirez Canyon from Kanan-Dume Road must be constructed prior to implementing additional park uses at Ramirez Canyon Park. Commission staff has advised the commission to deny the city’s proposed amendments.
The commission will also consider next week the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s proposed Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan Overlay, which would include overnight camping at Ramirez, Escondido and Corral canyon parks. Commission staff has recommended that the Coastal Commission approve the conservancy’s plan.
The parks enhancement plan, as proposed, aims to create a total of 29 overnight camping sites at Ramirez, Escondido and Corral canyon parks; to allow 32 special events (parties of up to 200 people) per year at the conservancy’s Ramirez Canyon property; a 32-space parking lot at the top of Winding Way and improvements to local trails to create the Coastal Slope Trail that would connect the east and west ends of Malibu.
Malibu officials and residents have long criticized the plan that would allow overnight camping in Ramirez, Corral and Escondido canyons because of the fear of heightened fire risks and narrow access roads for emergency vehicles to the areas. Though the proposed plan would prohibit campfires, residents doubt the extent to which that rule would be enforced.
The City of Malibu may decide to continue a lawsuit it filed against the state last year regarding the overnight camping, but was invalidated by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who said the city had to wait until the Coastal Commission voted on the issue before legal action could be taken. In the meantime, the city attempted to negotiate with the conservancy over its proposed plan.
“The council did the best it could to reach a settlement wherein there would be no camping in residential areas in the canyons and cut back everything they [the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy] wanted,” Mayor Pro Tem Sharon Barovsky said Monday in a telephone interview. “Now our fate is in the hands of the Coastal Commission. I dearly hope they make the right decision.”
Should the Coastal Commission amend the LCP to the conservancy’s favor, the Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan must still undergo a full environmental review and a California Environmental Quality Act review that will be open for public comment.
The June 10 Coastal Commission hearing will take place at Marina del Rey Hotel, 13534 Bali Way, Marina del Rey, 90292. The contact number is 310.301.1000. Speakers at the meeting will be allotted five minutes or less. The complete staff report on the two items can be viewed online at www.coastal.ca.gov on the “current meeting” page.