City, SMMUSD, and Coastal Commission continue to make the MMHS campus their ‘top priority’
Last month, The California Coastal Commission granted the staff’s request for a one-year extension for the City of Malibu Local Coastal Program Amendment for the MMHS Campus Specific Plan. Since the meeting, the school district, the City of Malibu, and Coastal Commission staff have discussed how to move forward.
Coastal Commission Chair Donne Brownsey expressed empathy for the district and the citizens of Malibu, particularly its students, for speaking during the meeting last month and committed that Coastal Commission staff would work to bring this matter back for approval this fall.
Coastal Commission District Director Steve Hudson presented the report during the Coastal Commission in-person meeting on July 12, and said there was excellent discussion regarding what the next steps are, the process and expectations.
“This was a case where we were pleased that the [Coastal] commission staff, city staff, and school district staff were able to coordinate very early on in the process, regarding the school district project and that was try to find ways where we can resolve issues and particularly where there were several projects in the past; this is more of the expansion and redevelopment of the portion of the campus that is directly adjacent to a creek that constitutes a highly environmentally habitat area,” Hudson said. “So we met earlier with the city to resolve the issues, and the primary issue was that the new development being proposed by the school district would encroach within the normally required 100-foot buffer under the city’s local coast program, so the school district needed an exception to be made.”
Hudson said the second part of the process requires a local coastal amendment to the city’s certified program is what the Coastal Commission needs to grant the development.
“Our staff did meet with the city before the LCP was submitted to us, and we provided input to the city, but unfortunately, the city made some but not all of the changes that we’re needed and that was the opportunity for additional coordination to occur to ensure those issues had been resolved before the city had adopted the LCP amendment and submitted for our commission,” Hudson said. “Those amendments that do need changes, then our typical process, it’s just simply not possible for us to process those sorts of more complex LCP amendments within that 90-day timeframe, and that’s the purpose of the time extension.”
Hudson said their intention is to work with the city and school district to develop a necessary suggested modification and bring the LCP amendment back for certification as quickly as possible.
“We have committed to expediting that amendment, and we hope to bring that as early as fall, which is very soon,” Hudson said. “I was thankful that we had that coordination with the city and school district early on in the process. The next step is for us is to work closely with the city and the school district to develop those suggested modifications and we want a joint solution that will bring to our commission as quickly as possible.”
On Friday, July 21, The Malibu Times tried to reach Planning Director Richard Mollica for a statement since he did speak on Zoom during the Coastal Commission meeting last month but said he was out of the office and was unable to answer questions. Instead, he forwarded any questions to Planning Director Raneika Brooks.
Brooks said it was tough to hear the comments made by the chair during the meeting.
“As a planner on that project, we’ve done a lot of coordination with the school district and the Coastal Commission even before the application was submitted, and we understand the urgency of this project,” Brooks said. “I think we were hoping for them to expedite it, because when they received our local coastal program amendment, it wasn’t their first time seeing it, we had multiple meetings with them and there was a lot of coordination and so when they came, with the request to extend the process by a year, the city knew how much effort we put into to expedite that application.”
As for the comments the chair made, Brooks said she doesn’t think it reflects the actual process.
“We immediately had a conversation with Coastal Commission staff after that hearing, and even the staff weren’t sure of the context of the chair’s comments because we know the application is complete and we understand they’ll be additional coordination,” Brooks said. “During the hearing that week was the first time we heard that, and it came from the chair, with some pretty frustrating comments and Coastal Commission staff apologized for not letting us know sooner, that could have been a staff-level conversation as opposed to a getting reprimanded by the coastal commissioners themselves. We thought we had a pretty good working relationship with the Coastal Commission staff and I suspect at the end of the day, everyone is overworked and everyone has a lot of work on their plate.”
During the hearing at Newport Beach, Brownsey said they’ve had a history of the City of Malibu misrepresenting the process of the Coastal Commission and taking responsibility.
“Your community representatives have failed you by not doing what they we’re supposed to do, by timely doing the administrative work, so that this commission expedite and approve your amendment and then your project,” Brownsey said during the meeting. “The commission is not responsible for what we have before us today. These are the kinds of projects that we want to expedite; we know how important they are to the community, we know how long it takes for complex projects like this, and we expect cooperation from our local government partners. They provided the community suffering, confusion, and delay, and I have to tell you, I’m appalled that they would tell all you good people, that we are the problem, they failed you, they didn’t do what they were required to do.”
Brooks said despite hearing those comments, it provided a sense of urgency.
“There’s been additional communication from that meeting just to make sure we’re all on the same page,” Brooks said. “We the city staff, is committed to doing what we can to keep it moving forward, and we’re hoping the item will go before the Coastal Commission in the next month or so, but we remain open and willing to do whatever we can.”
Malibu City Manager Steve McClary released a statement last week in response to the outcome of the meeting.
“The City of Malibu and the school district remain committed to working together to advance the project and have had several discussions about next steps since the Coastal Commission’s July 12 meeting,” McClary said the in the press release. “The city and the school district are coordinating a meeting with Coastal Commission staff to work together as cooperatively and expeditiously as possible to get the project back before the City Council and back to the Coastal Commission in the fall.”
