The following letter was sent to state Sen. Sheila James Kuehl, 23rd District.
I received your letter of March 14, which described your efforts to ensure recycling of used automobile tires and construction and demolition site waste. As one of your constituents, I commend you for your endeavors in this regard. However, as far as our little city is concerned, we have much more significantly pressing issues which I believe you have not addressed.
By reviewing the voting record, I note that you voted in favor of AB988, which delegated the Coastal Commission as the agency to write the Local Coastal Plan for the City of Malibu. Since you have numerous supporters (economic and otherwise) in the City of Malibu, I am certain that you are aware of the issues surrounding that legislation.
For the past week, highlighters and red pen in hand, I have reviewed the draft Local Coastal Plan, and, given your environmental concern, I am writing this letter to inquire as to whether you have any intentions of providing any relief to our city from the Draconian policies which the Coastal Commission seeks to impose upon it. Given the ESHA designations soon to be imposed on the city, there will be no construction and, as a result, no construction waste. Additionally, if the Coastal Commission prevails in the Marine Forest Society appeal, your tire recycling bill will be viable. If it does not, there should be no reason why used automobile tires cannot be used to create artificial reefs and marine habitats. The Local Coastal Plan, which has been drafted pursuant to AB988, will have the following effects:
1. It will immediately draw legal challenges, not only from the city but from other interested citizens of the City of Malibu. As a result, it will likely involve the Coastal Commission in litigation for at least the next three to five years. Simply put, this is not conservation of resources.
2. If imposed upon the city, it will result in the city being tasked to enforce ordinances that are confiscatory and violative of the United States Supreme Court decisions. The result will be that additional litigation will result; again a waste of taxpayers resources.
I think I understand the misbegotten basis for AB988; it does not reflect well upon our legislative process. The special treatment accorded to three very rich landowners in the permitting process by the Coastal Commission, permits which in and of themselves violate the draft Local Coastal Plan in return for huge political donations, speaks volumes about our political process.
The question here is, what are you, as one of our legislative representatives, going to do about this?
Todd M. Sloan.