Superior Court judge denies the city’s request to issue coastal permits while appealing his earlier decision denying the right of Malibu citizens to put the Local Coastal Plan to a vote. Several architects urge councilmembers to issue permits immediately.
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to the Malibu Times
The City of Malibu may be reaching a breaking point. Last week, Los Angeles County Superior Judge Allan Goodman denied the city’s request to issue coastal development permits while it pursues an appeal of his earlier ruling that it could not put the California Coastal Commission created Local Coastal Plan (LCP) to a vote of the people.
This leaves the city in a Catch-22 situation-it either pursues the appeal, which would put the 150 or so applicants seeking coastal permits in limbo, a position where they have been for nearly a year, or it drops the appeal and accepts the Coastal Commission-mandated LCP, and begins issuing coastal permits immediately. However, this would ignore the 2,600 people who signed a petition asking for the right to vote on the LCP.
“The City Council does not fully appreciate the burden that they are placing on the people who cannot get their homes built,” said Santa Monica architect John Kilbane, who has several Malibu clients unable to build or remodel their homes.
Councilmember Andy Stern said the council does, in fact, sympathize with the people who are in the so-called pipeline. But, he added, the city must also be concerned with the 2,600 people who signed the petition in the fall to bring the LCP to a referendum.
“One-third of the electorate signed that petition,” he said. “I’m not just going to forget about those people. That is not what this council is about.”
Mayor Ken Kearsley said a variety of options are on the table, and the council will discuss them in closed session at its next meeting on July 14 with City Attorney Christi Hogin. The city also has a special meeting on July 9, but it is not clear if the council can meet about this issue at that time. Hogin is on vacation this week and was unavailable for comment. But Kearsley said one of the options that will be discussed is to seek an order from the appellate court to override Goodman’s decision. Local land use attorney Alan Block said he believes the appellate court would most likely approve that.
“Otherwise, they are forcing the city to give up their appeal,” Block said, suggesting the city would have to end its quest rather than face what would be a large number of angry people unable to get their permits granted.
But Kearsley and Stern said the city couldn’t give up its battle regardless, because of its obligation to the people who signed the petition. However, Councilmember Jeff Jennings was less confident. Although he declined to make a judgment on what the council might do, he did acknowledge that it would be facing a tough situation.
“It is going to be difficult for the council to continue delaying these people in the pipeline for as long as they have,” he said.
But land use attorney Richard Scott said he believes the council should begin issuing permits under the current LCP immediately. Several architects and others involved in the planning process have also suggested that. But the councilmembers have spoken against this for the reason that it would hurt the city’s case going before the appellate court, and, if it were to win the case on appeal, those permits granted under the current LCP could become void.
“I feel that issue can be addressed at the time the appeal will be considered,” said Kilbane, who agrees with Scott’s assessment. “But it is imperative now that the council grant the permits.”
Another issue in dispute is how much of an influence Taxpayers for Livable Communities (TLC) had on Goodman’s decision. The mysterious group has had a series of lawsuits against the city and is the challenging party in Malibu’s attempt to put the LCP to a referendum. Also, when the city attempted to get the ability to grant the permits without it affecting its case, the TLC stepped in to challenge that. This, despite the Coastal Commission saying it would not object to the city granting permits, and the city believing the judge was in favor of granting its request.
“The judge had basically said to us in court that we could work this thing out, then Taxpayers for Livable Communities gets involved, and the judge comes back with a decision that is the total opposite,” Kearsley said.
But TLC attorney Corin L. Kahn said there is no way to know if his client had an influence on Goodman’s decision. He said the judge might have come up with the same conclusion by looking at the facts.