Bed and breakfast lodge planners jump through a myriad of state, local and federal hoops to meet standards for building in an environmentally sensitive area.
As the owners of the BeauRivage Restaurant looked on, the Malibu Planning Commission on Monday reviewed without discussion a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for their proposed 32-unit bed and breakfast lodge.
Commissioners listened and asked questions as Shane Parker, an EIR consultant for the project, summarized the issues raised by an Environmental Review Board meeting that took place in October. Parker also listed possible mitigation measures. The restaurant is on Pacific Coast Highway near Corral Canyon Road, and the lodge would be located just west of it. Solstice Creek is located nearby.
Daniel and Luciana Forge, the owners, said in a later interview they have been envisioning this bed and breakfast lodge for 20 years, but their dream has been long in coming. In the late ’80s, the BeauRivage Restaurant was expanded and the lodge was to be built soon after, but when Malibu became a city, the project was delayed because a moratorium was placed on all new commercial developments.
“This project is a classic, exactly what the Coastal Commission is looking for,” said Norm Haynie, a Malibu resident who regularly attends the Planning Commission’s meetings.
The redesigned lodge, with eight small two-story buildings, would be partially surrounded by a preserved Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area (ESHA), with trees and a stream that could support the rehabilitation of steelhead trout in the future. Parking spaces and a trail would be made available for the visiting public and native trees would be preserved as much as possible.
But as they worked to mitigate all the possible environmental impacts, the applicants faced a maze of federal, state, county and local agencies.
From federal agencies like the United States Department of Commerce to state and local agencies such as the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and the City of Malibu’s Environmental Review Board to organizations and individuals, the project had to jump through a number of hoops.
The project planners had to theoretically deal with steelhead trout in a stream that has not had any trout since the 1940s. As it currently exists, the metal culvert channeling Solstice Creek under the Pacific Coast Highway is inaccessible to the fish because it has a drop to the shoreline on the south side of the highway.
Riparian restoration, hydrologic concerns, surface runoff and a large number of other concerns were also among the matters the applicants had to mediate.
Moreover, the site is also thought to be an Indian burial ground and to have a seismic fault line.
But this property is already a disturbed ESHA, according to Parker, and the fault is not seismically active. Aerial photos from the 1950s show significant grading already took place at that time and most artifacts were already damaged or destroyed.
If the commission certifies the final EIR when it comes back in about eight to 10 weeks, the project will then undergo a site plan review because of the two-story lodges, which exceed the standard 18 feet height required by the city code. The commission at that time will also consider an ESHA setback reduction request and a variance request for a retaining wall.