A solution—considered innovative by some and irresponsible by others—to a tight parking situation for one Malibu business was deemed unacceptable by the Malibu Planning Commission this week. The upscale Malibu Beach Inn hotel, located near the Malibu Pier on the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway, will not be permitted to park its guests in the Hertz lot across the highway, after a 4-1 vote by the commission during its Monday night meeting. Commissioner Jeff Jennings cast the sole dissenting vote in the decision.
The plan would have involved implementing a valet shuttle system to access the lot as well as a small swimming pool to be installed near the hotel property. The pool was approved by the commission, though parking was not.
The proposal for the parking lot had been recommended for approval by city staff—an abrupt change after city staff recommended denying the proposed offsite parking plan a year ago.
In a quote from the meeting—provided by KBUU
News—Commission Chairman Steve Uhring suggested the change would bring increased pedestrian traffic across the busy highway.
“All of a sudden, Malibu is going to look like downtown Tijuana,” Uhring was quoted as saying. “I’m gonna have cars goin’ back and forth, people are going be running across the thing, and I don’t think that’s what we want to do.”
The decision will be upheld unless applicants appeal to the city council, which seemed likely.
KBUU News contributed to this report.
