Snow in Corral Canyon, hail stones on Malibu Road. It may not have been the storm of the century, but it was the first time in memory that snow plows were called into service in this beach town.

The latest in the every-other-day series of winter storms dumped 1-1/2 inches of rain on Malibu Sunday, and some children slogged through slush to get to school Monday morning. Heavy hail triggered several accidents on Pacific Coast Highway.

“A cloud just came through about 9:15 a.m. and dumped about 6 to 8 inches of hail on PCH within 10 minutes,” said Rick Barry, Leo Carrillo State Park maintenance assistant. The campground is in a little valley with its entrance at Mulholland and PCH. “Cars going northbound down that grade just lost control,” Barry said. “One guy in a van spun out, went across PCH, off the road and hit a telephone pole. About five minutes after that, another car lost control and hit a car stopped in the center turn lane.” Only minor injuries were reported.

A Caltrans truck with a blade ordinarily used to remove rocks from the highway came by and cleared the ice, alleviating the hazard even though rain continued to fall throughout the day. Barry said there was about 20 minutes altogether of hail. “I’ve been here five years,” he said. “It’s the first thing like that I’ve seen.”

The snow level, predicted to be as low as 2,500 feet throughout the county, fell below 1,500 feet in Encinal and Corral canyons and piles of snow dotted the shoulders of the highway along Broad Beach.

Meanwhile, heavy rains dislodged mud and rocks from slopes at lower elevations. County water district crews were reconnecting water lines on Calle del Barco, where a huge landslide triggered two years ago closed off that La Costa neighborhood. The recently completed slope repair, which is covered with heavy mesh, appeared undamaged by the downpour, but smaller cliffs below shed mud and rocks onto Rambla Vista, which was all cleaned up by Tuesday morning.

“No serious slide damage was reported, just the normal unraveling in the canyons.” said Richard Calvin, city street maintenance manager.

As usual, heavy runoff carried pollution from streets and parking lots through storm drains onto the beach. Heal the Bay issued its customary warnings against swimming and surfing within 100 yards of any flowing storm drain. Farther south, about 560,000 gallons of sewage spilled into Ballona Creek at midday Sunday, closing beaches from Venice Pier south to Imperial Highway. “Bacteria levels are off the scale,” Heal the Bay reported. “Indicator bacteria counts at beaches throughout the bay usually far exceed health criteria in the state’s Beach Closure and Health Warning Protocol during and immediately after a rainstorm.”

“You’re supposed to wait three days but that’s hard to do when it rains every other day,” said City Engineer Rick Morgan.

Water quality in Malibu Lagoon, once the sand berm opens in the fall, is not affected so much by storm runoff.

“Our ocean water quality of course has been horrible with all the rain. But the lagoon pretty much stays open, so it doesn’t change the water quality there,” Morgan said. “It all goes out into the surf zone.” (See Beach Report, A3.)

Though they’re dodging raindrops on the way from second to third, Malibu Little Leaguers are nothing less than thrilled that the 2000 season is now under way.

While soggy turf and an overall shortage of playing fields stunted last year’s season, the league hit a veritable first-inning home run with opening ceremonies and nine full ball games Saturday at Bluffs Park.

Highlighted by a keynote speech from former Boston Red Sox all-star Reggie Smith, opening ceremonies attracted more than 700 players, parents and coaches on a brisk but mercifully dry morning, according to League Commissioner Rick Holben.

“It was just a wonderful event because it brings a lot of people in the community together,” said Holben. “That’s hard to do in a community 27 miles long.”

“Opening day was absolutely great,” said Ed Bell, coach of the Reds in the major league division. “Reggie Smith was a great, professional addition. Kids can carry his comments: It’s not a win or lose game, it’s a game.

“You look at the Little League motto: courage, character, loyalty. Above and beyond baseball, those things should be taught,” added Bell.

This year, there will be many more games in which to absorb the league’s lessons. Though, according to Holben, there is “still a drastic field shortage [and] 40 percent of the games will be played on a converted soccer field,” the early start date may ensure that all 17 of the league’s teams will be able to play their entire 20-game, regular-season schedules.

“I’m very happy about the field situation,” said Bell. “It’s March, and we’re already off to a success.” He also praised the efforts of last year’s board to prevent the facilities mishaps of last season. According to Holben, the board spent more than $15,000 to improve the infields and drainage.

“Last year was so labor-intensive,” said Holben. “Everyone’s excited for a full season.”

The league has a full roster of more than 250 kids. There are managers for all teams, but they “could still use a couple of coaches,” according to Holben.

The issue of code enforcement, which lately has become a very hot election issue, got even hotter this week with the formation of a new Malibu Political Action Committee called “Malibu Homeowners for Reform.”

Members of the new group, which consists of many of the same people who have been the most outspoken critics of the city’s code enforcement policy, were deeply upset, according to spokesperson Anne Hoffman, because they felt many of their activists were overlooked when the council members made their appointments to the newly formed Code Enforcement Task Force. They attribute their exclusion in part to a statement made by City Manager Harry Peacock at the Feb. 28 council meeting, when he advised the council to determine whether the applicants they appoint to the Code Enforcement Task Force come into the process “…with clean hands or just as dirty as sin.”

The newly formed PAC telegraphed its intentions to very aggressively investigate the specifics of the city’s code enforcement policies by serving a demand letter upon the city’s building official Vic Peterson March 1, demanding the city produce, pursuant to the public records act, “The first page of each code enforcement letter sent by the Code Enforcement division to Malibu property owners describing the violations noted by Code Enforcement during the period from Feb. 1, 1999 through March 1, 2000 for all code violation cases that became closed at any time during that period.” They told The Malibu Times they were beginning with the closed cases because the open pending cases don’t have to be disclosed by the city; however, they would be attempting to reach those people also and will be requesting they contact their new organization.

At the next council meeting, the council will probably approve the membership of the Code Enforcement Task Force and its charter, which addresses zoning code issues including “grandfathering,” “permitted uses,” “guest houses vs. second units,” and a number of issues related to the code enforcement process. Where some observers saw the city’s prompt action as a sign of the city’s good intent to reform or at least take a close look at the process, others in the newly formed PAC were far more skeptical. They feared their exclusion from the task force, coupled with the Building Department’s series of meetings with contractors, Realtors and others, was evidence some on the council and staff were trying to put a nice face on a bad situation at least until after the election next month, and they questioned their willingness to really address the problems.

The formation of the task force grew out of an earlier City Council meeting held at the Malibu Community Center auditorium. A number of the 200-plus Malibu residents present vented their frustration that the code enforcement people seem to be targeting many structures and uses that had gone unchallenged for years, were being very selective and very heavy handed, and tended to focus on older, smaller and less affluent households.

The stated purpose of the new PAC is to “reform the zoning code and the residential permit process for the city of Malibu with the goals of reducing the financial and regulatory burden on the single-family homeowners, while preserving public safety and the environment.”

The group can be contacted through its principal officer, David Hansen, at 317.2172 . The group has an ambitious agenda. It plans to launch a public information campaign, distribute mailers, produce a video, hold a citywide rally one week before the council election and gather signatures to put a referendum on the ballot in November.

Migrating whales from Alaska will find their pristine Baja California breeding and birthing grounds undisturbed, Mexico’s President Ernesto Zedillo said last week.

Threatened for the past five years with the prospect of a massive saltworks project by Mitsubishi Corp., the last undeveloped breeding ground of the gray whale now seems secure.

Local environmentalists cheered Zedillo’s surprise announcement the Mexican government was withdrawing its support from the massive project, which it once viewed as a source of jobs for the impoverished area.

The government owned 51 percent and Mitsubishi 49 percent of the Exportadora de Sal company, which had altered its original plan in 1994 after Mexican environmental officials turned it down.

A Mitsubishi representative estimated the plant would have produced 216 jobs and sales of about $100 million a year.

“This is a place that has had minimum interference by humans,” Zedillo said. “It’s one of the few places like that left on the planet.”

During the five-year battle, the California Coastal Commission passed resolutions against the development and activists produced a stunningly effective campaign to boycott Mitsubishi products. Commission Chair Sara Wan said, “I couldn’t be happier. I hope the commission’s decision played a role. I praise the Mexican government for having the courage to do this.”

The company said it had received 700,000 postcards from this country opposing the planned desecration of San Ignacio Lagoon, which had been designated a whale refuge by the Mexican government in the 1970s.

Actor Pierce Brosnan was among local activists who backed the efforts of a coalition of international nature groups and the National Resources Defense Council, which feared the plant would destroy the whales’ birthing grounds by pumping huge volumes of water from the shallow northern end of the lagoon. Noise and pollution from ships were also believed a threat to fishing and ecotourism.

“This is also a victory for the local economy, the fishermen who also use their boats to take tourists to the whales,” Wan said. “They’d much rather do that than have to take a low-paying factory job.”

Wan recalled her trip to the lagoon in 1997. “I went on a panga, a little fishing boat, and the whales came up to us, and their babies climbed on the mothers’ backs to look into the boat. I got to kiss one. They like to be petted. It’s very clear they want to communicate with us.”

“The whales won, thank goodness,” said Mary Frampton, founder of Save Our Coast. “It’s the least we could do for them. I felt so overjoyed. They really do know how to connect.”

Sculptor Terri Bennett told The Malibu Times years ago she had visited the lagoon and stroked the whales as they stayed alongside the boats, even nudging their babies closer. She thought perhaps they sensed these friendly gestures might one day save their ancestral birthplace.

For decades, the war against development in Malibu has been fiercely fought to preserve open space and limit development. Malibu’s residents have guarded against corporate exploitation of the environment, whether it is Malibu Canyon, Las Virgenes Creek or Chumash Indian heritage. This passion for environmental conservation is sorely needed to protect and preserve an important natural treasure — Yosemite National Park.

Aside from legal efforts by the Sierra Club, Friends of Yosemite Valley and local grassroots organizations to halt construction projects, most people throughout California and across the U.S. are unaware Yosemite National Park is slated for unprecedented development. It is about to be repackaged as “YosemiteWorld,” complete with more souvenirs, restaurants, bathrooms, diesel buses, and bus-transit staging areas at favorite scenic sites throughout the park, all designed by the concessionaire, and approved by the Park Service, to capture every last vacation dollar.

Yosemite’s National Park Service is using millions of dollars of congressional funds, intended to repair flood damaged areas, to change the course of Yosemite’s future with little public awareness or input. The service has pending plans to widen the roads to accommodate larger buses, build bus transit staging and visitor facilities, and a parking structure in the valley, as well as 32 new motel buildings at the new Yosemite Lodge, and more guest lodging facilities at El Portal.

The service released the draft Merced River Plan for public comment Jan 7. While the General Management Plan calls for a reduction in crowding, traffic congestion and the overall development footprint to “reclaim priceless natural beauty and let natural processes prevail,” the Merced River Plan will create new opportunities for increased development projects.

The Park Service has given approval to the concessionaire to begin operations this summer of large, polluting, diesel buses as the main component of the public transportation system.

As this plan will determine the fate of Yosemite for generations, the most common theme at public hearings has been the request for an extension of the public comment period. However, it does not appear an extension will be granted. This plan, ordered by Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, must be completed before the end of the Clinton administration.

The public comment period closes March 14. The Merced River Plan is available at www.nps.gov/yose/planning.htm. Public comments can be e-mailed to the above address, faxed to 209.372.0456, or mailed to the Superintendent, Merced River Plan/EIS, Post Office Box 577, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389. In addition, a copy of this plan is available for review at The Malibu Times, along with supporting documents used to prepare this article.

The fact that elections for City Council are a month away was obvious Monday night, as council members Joan House and Tom Hasse fielded what appeared to be politically driven flack about the proposed Civic Center development deal they presented to the council two weeks before. House, the largest vote-getter in the 1996 election, is a candidate. Hasse is not.

Candidate and Councilman Walt Keller’s motion to have the agreement reviewed by a consultant failed, and House’s motion on a public hearing schedule was approved 5-0, after House and Hasse addressed Parks and Recreation Commissioner Sam Hall Kaplan’s call for “due diligence” and no “back door deals.”

Hasse said City Manager Harry Peacock, an attorney from the Interim City Attorney’s office, and reputable appraiser Mason and Mason had been with him and House throughout the 11-month negotiations, and Hasse added he and House never had authority to strike a deal.

Noting the community’s apparent receptiveness to the deal, Hasse said, “Whenever I have Planning Commissioner Jo Ruggles and Malibu Times publisher Arnold York agreeing on anything, that’s consensus. That’s what happened in the last few weeks.”

House’s motion calls for speeding up finalizing the written agreement and having the first of at least three public hearings begin a month after that. The written agreement is expected to be finalized in a month.

Code enforcement

Council members announced 10 of the 15 appointments they were allowed to make, as agreed at the council’s special code enforcement workshop last month. Mayor Pro Tem Harry Barovsky nominated contractor Roger Trivette, electrician Bob Hart and Marissa Coughlan. Carolyn Van Horn named Point Dume Mobilehome Park Homeowners Association Vice President Dusty Peak and attorney James Schoenfield. Keller appointed John Miller and John Maclay. Hasse named attorneys Todd Sloan and Ted Vaill. House named attorney Jeannette Maginnis.

Paul Major, one of the original advocates for the task force, told The Malibu Times he was disappointed in the choices. Peak and Coughlan had been appointed as friends of Code Enforcement officer Gail Sumpter, Major said. Only one of the 10 people he had suggested had been named, while the “hundreds” of people who had the courage to speak their mind, including Anne Hoffman of the advocacy group Malibu Citizens for Fair Zoning, had been ignored.

The council decided 4-0 to let the task force consider the code violation amnesty program, Barovksy having left by the time of the midnight vote.

Hasse’s motion to have all complaints in writing and of public record also passed 4-0.

School district grant

Although the 5-0 vote to give the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District $150,000 was made without discussion and without conditions, the staff report suggests 16 items the council might request in return. Requests range from a TV studio in a Malibu High classroom to deeding the Malibu Equestrian Center to the city. The council was to meet with the district yesterday (March 1).

Budget program priorities

A request by education activist Laure Stern for a $10,000 contribution to the youth foundation she founded highlighted budgetary fears. The city will lose the $750,000 it had as a new city next summer, and even before the $150,000 school district grant, will have spent $250,000 more than it has in the General Fund. On Hasse’s motion, council members voted 4-0 to prepare a “base” budget that would pay for things not already completed, and then consider the youth foundation grant, $16,000 for trash bins and implementation of the Parks Master Plan.

Perez stringline

Resolving a year-long dispute between warring Carbon Beach neighbors Charles Perez and Gil Segel, Hasse crafted a compromise, approved 5-0, delineating the stringline between the two homes. The stringline is a rule of thumb for determining how far seaward homes and decks may project to the beach, and as Emily Harlow had said at a recent Planning Commission meeting, “Every foot makes a difference.”

Hasse’s motion draws the stringline midway between those delineated by the Planning Commission (based on the Coastal Commission definition) and that drawn by former Planning Director Craig Ewing based on the Zoning Ordinance.

New city attorney

City Manager Harry Peacock announced the council had chosen Santa Barbara attorney Steve Amerikaner as the new City Attorney. Amerikaner, a partner in the firm of Hatch and Parent, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1973. The firm’s client list includes the cities of Beverly Hills, Oxnard and Torrance; the Santa Ynez River Water Conservation District; The Vons Companies; and Wells Fargo Bank.

Interim planning director

Peacock also announced Harry Engen, a retired Community Director of the Central Coast city of Atascadero, would be able to serve as Interim Planning Director beginning March 1. He would serve through May, working four days a week.