Daniel Forge, who has battled the state before over his attempt to build a bed and breakfast on his land, says he plans to fight the state’s plan to seize part of his property through eminent domain.
By Olivia Damavandi / Assistant Editor
The recent report of the state’s attempt to seize a portion of the BeauRivage restaurant property by eminent domain has outraged many, including property owner Daniel Forge who this week said he’d sue the state if it tries to do so.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) wants to take the property in order to conduct a project it hopes will help reinstate steelhead trout into Solstice Creek, which runs through part of the property. The project involves the implementation of fish ladders-structures that help the natural migration of the fish-to allow the fish to swim upstream of the parking area of the restaurant’s property, located near the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Corral Canyon Road. The matter will be decided upon during at a California Transportation Commission hearing scheduled to take place Oct. 14 and 15 in San Diego.
Forge said the project would handicap his business by eliminating significant parking space and by shutting down the north entrance of the five-acre property. Forge also said the state has neither tried to negotiate the matter with him nor has it offered him any monetary compensation. Caltrans, however, asserts the project will in no way impact the property and that it has made numerous attempts to negotiate with Forge.
“They [Caltrans] haven’t given me any other alternatives, they haven’t negotiated, they just come and they put a knife under your throat and they just want to do it,” Forge said Monday in a telephone interview. “I have asked for a more detailed plan of the project, where it’s going to go, how long its going to take to build, but they don’t answer my questions. They say maybe six months but six months could be a year, we don’t know.”
Caltrans Public Information Officer Kelly Markham in a telephone interview Tuesday said the proposed project would cost $430,000 and take less than six months to complete.
“Caltrans made multiple attempts to meet with the property owner and did offer monetary compensation but the offer was rejected,” Markham said, declining to disclose the amount of proposed compensation of number of offers.
Furthermore, Markham said, “Just the stream bed would be occupied, none of his actual property, so this notion that we are somehow impacting his business and stealing his property is false.”
Steve Mallard, deputy director and chief engineer for the California Transportation Commission, explained that Caltrans is seeking two easements: a permanent one to build fish ladders in Solstice Creek, and a temporary one along the banks of the creek that would allow construction to take place.
“The permanent construction easement will allow them access for maintenance purposes onto the fish ladders,” Mallard said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “But that’s no big deal, a truck comes every few years and within a few hours they’re out of there.
“The entire property remains in the hands of the property owner,” Mallard continued. “Not an inch of his property is being taken from him. I have no idea why he’s so upset. As far as I know he hasn’t requested appearance in front of the [Transportation] commission so I don’t know really what his beef is.
“I would imagine they can’t come to terms on the amount of money but I’m just speculating,” Mallard added. “He wants more money than Caltrans is willing to give him so the state needs to activate their eminent domain power.”
This isn’t the first time Forge has butt heads with the state over his property.
The Forges purchased the property in 1982 and spent years seeking permits and fighting lawsuits to initially construct a shopping mall, and later a bed and breakfast. In 2003 the Malibu City Council approved a municipal permit that would have allowed the couple to construct a 16,240-square-foot bed and breakfast on their land situated north of Corral Canyon.
Then the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit citing various environmental concerns, including inadequate protection for steelhead trout in nearby Solstice Creek, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs deemed the argument insufficient.
The Forges’ big blow came in August 2005 when the California Coastal Commission unanimously rejected their project application, despite commission staff’s recommendation for approval. The commission said the project was proposed to be located within 100 feet of an environmentally sensitive habitat area, or ESHA, which is a violation of the Malibu Local Coastal Program. Forge said there was no evidence to support that, and that coastal staff correctly identified the project as being outside the 100-foot threshold. Sierra Club attorney Frank Angel, however, said the evidence existed and the coastal staff did not review it. The Forges sued the commission over its decision, but lost.
Though Forge last week said he has given up on trying to build the bed and breakfast, he said he’s not going to give up trying to prevent the state’s current attempt to seize his land.
“Absolutely I think we will file a lawsuit because we have to defend ourselves,” Forge said. “You give them a finger and they take your whole arm.”