Residents will soon be alerted to an Internet survey that will ask them what classes they are interested in being offered at a Malibu SMC campus.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
Five months after the passage of Measure S, the committee charged to oversee the bond money’s usage in Malibu met for the first time.
The Malibu Public Facilities Authority, composed of Mayor Sharon Barovsky and Mayor Pro Tem Andy Stern from the Malibu City Council and Chair Carole L. Currey and Vice-Chair Nancy Greenstein from the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees, met at Malibu City Hall on April 13 for preliminary discussions on Measure S issues.
Voters approved measure S, a $135 million bond measure, in November. As part of an agreement signed before Election Day, $25 million must go toward projects in Malibu, including the building of an educational facility. SMC Interim President Thomas J. Donner told the authority that $58 million of the $135 million would likely be available in May, with the rest of the money coming in two years. Of the $58 million, $24 million is dedicated to the Madison Campus project the college is working on in Santa Monica. Donner said the rest of the money would go toward land acquisition, while the second phase of the money will be for projects.
SMC officials released statistics at the meeting about Malibu residents’ involvement with the college. According to SMC, 362 residents take courses there, with 27 percent intending to transfer to a four-year school. Eighteen percent of the Malibu students are taking classes for what the college called “lifelong learning,” meaning they were not taking them for academic purposes. The most popular classes taken by Malibu residents include acting, autobiography, creative art, current events and drawing/painting.
Residents will soon be alerted to an Internet survey that will ask them what classes they are interested in being offered at a Malibu SMC campus. The residents will also be asked if they would want the bond measure money to be used in connection with the city’s attempt to purchase land for ball fields and if residents are interested in the bond money being associated with the plan to revitalize the library. Hard-copy surveys will be made available for those without Internet access.
Following the meeting, the authority members went into a closed session to discuss properties that could be available for purchase. Those properties are the Crummer site, located next to Bluffs Park on Pacific Coast Highway, the old City Hall building, located on Civic Center Way, and the two properties in the Civic Center area near the Malibu Knolls that are owned by the Yamaguchi Family Trust. City Manager Katie Lichtig said during the regular portion of the meeting that the owners of those properties have expressed interest in having discussions.
Only the Yamaguchi properties have an owner who has written an official willing-seller letter. The trust sent a notice to the city last year stating it would sell its two properties totaling 17 acres for $20 million. The 24-acre Crummer property is listed on the market for $26 million, although no official letter has been sent to the city. Paul Grisanti, the Realtor for the property, told The Malibu Times last week that the property owners have always been willing to talk to the city about a deal. The county owns the old City Hall building. It is not known for how much the county would be willing to sell the property.
Earlier this month, the city learned that Pepperdine University was willing to donate two acres of its Wave property, located behind the old City Hall, in exchange for being able to increase its allowable development on the remaining seven acres of the property. This could allow the city to construct a much-desired wastewater/storm water treatment facility there.