Malibu City Issues
Malibu's Case Project Will Create
America's Richest Neighborhood
With each home ranging in price from $70 million to $115 million, the prospective Case Development soon will become the most expensive neighborhood in the country. (Homes in the enclave will range from 10,500 square feet to 13,500 square feet, with lot sizes ranging from 2.45 to 5.78 acres. Locally called the "Crummer Project" (after a previous land owner at the site) the development was one of the biggest real estate sales for land in Malibu and was transacted by one of Malibu's current City Council members. Such large-scale bulldozing of bluffs and meadows to create lots for such exceedingly lavish living could become the profligate future of Malibu residents if present homeowners do not speak out and do so with more affect than the money that speaks for developers' interests.
The Case Project's current
developer, Scott Gillen, has
reneged on his original deal
to allow our Malibu permanent skate park to be built as per the original plans and has appealed the Planning Commission's decision to approve it asking for it to move so that he can continue to park his construction vehicles in the area and set it back further away from his multi million dollar homes. We have encouraged the city council not to be bullied like this and to revoke all existing permits and not to issue any certificate of occupancy's if he continues with his opposition to the project he originally agreed to that will be used by a large amount of Malibu families.
Merchants Have Begun Connecting to Water Treatment Center
After beginning construction in July 2016, the $47 million Civic Center Wastewater Treatment Facility is nearing completion of Phase 1 of the Water Board's mandated sewage treatment plan.
This phase was the most expensive infrastructure project in Malibu’s history. Included in the project was a state-of-the- art centralized wastewater treatment facility, which began operating April 12, 2022. One by one, designated commercial properties have been turning off their old septic systems and connecting to the new facility.
Mega-Motels May Turn Malibu Into Vegas
Malibu developers and the worldwide corporate hotel community will be dancing in the moonlight if City Council approves last month's Planning Commission decision to allow construction of a hotel/motel on the site of the historic Malibu Inn.
In a 3-2 decision, city planning commissioners voted to recommend that City Council approve an 8,000-sq. ft., four-level hotel that will cut out 20,000,000 pounds of coastal bluff and then add a unique 50-ft. retaining wall (the only one ever attached to a structure), an elevator shaft more than 50 ft. high, an elevator for cars, and a rooftop pool. All of these elements are serious hazards in the event of continued area landslides, fires, traffic jams, fatalities and earthquakes.
The decision is one that points out the value of participating in Malibu Township Council, which relies on the community to support the values that make Malibu a place where you would want to live. These values include standards of safety that favor clean air, good health, environmental preservation, and a human-scale residential lifestyle in harmony with nature.
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At a May 31st Planning Commission hearing, MTC members spoke out strongly protesting a proposed project by brothers Alex and Steven Hakim. That project, if approved, would allow construction of a motel/hotel, that would encourage other similar plans, such as the previously approved Sea View Hotel.
A second such decision would confirm Malibu's arrival at a turning point making it more difficult for commissioners to uphold current construction and development laws. For our Planning Commission and City Council members to continue making excuses for granting unsafe and unnecessary variances will hasten the deterioration of Malibu's rare and exceptional beauty. And it will position our uniquely special Paradise among all the other cities trading on -- not the beauty of nature -- but residents' proximity to well-known entertainment and corporate stars. Malibu will join the ranks of cities known for "the highlife," such as Las Vegas, Cancun, the French Riviera, Abu Dhabi, and other larger-than-life hot spots of extreme living.
The first step in this direction occurred this year when the Sea View Hotel/Motel passed City Planning, City Council, and then was given a thumbs up by the California Coastal Commission (CCC).
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Although such a monumentally large-scale development was against city ordinances and
environmental standards, the ultimate responsibility
"buck" was passed out of city hands and to the CCC, which has no particular interest in Malibu, per se. The CCC however, has been known to grant permission for overdeveloped projects in exchange for donations by developers towards acquiring or building socially needed facilities, such as parks for the inner-city children, or the handicapped. In this way the CCC takes on a new role, apart from a
group serving as arbiter and interpreter of environmental and access coastal laws.
And, not to deny any help to the needy or poor in less fortunate communities, but the transfer of relatively large amounts of money from contractors in luxury areas to development projects for the disadvantaged. Doesn't that carry a ring of patronization, no matter how well-intended the effort might be? What does one thing have to do with the other?
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There's is no way to get around the fact that the enormous Sea View Motel/Hotel is a concrete-and-glass monstrosity portending the bulldozing of villages, lagoons, and human-scale housing, in favor of larger-than-life excess.


Last month the Planning Commission recommended that the Malibu City Council once again give permission for another hospitality facility in the style of Sea View, built on PCH and surrounded by dangerous traffic and built directly ON a coastal bluff and in a geologically inappropriate area that likely holds a plethora of cultural artifacts and remains.
Of course, the Hakim brothers are calling their structure a motel, not a hotel. Even though no one ever has heard of a motel with a 50-ft. retaining wall to hold back landslides, a pool and bar that serve food on the roof, and a car elevator and lower level parking not adjacent to the rooms.
MTC will fight first at the city council level, and if the project is not halted there, then before the CCC. And MTC speakers will be representing our regular residents so that the Commission will hear from more official Malibu representatives than simply our five City Council members.
It is important to MTC that the last domino not fall, that Malibu not cave to those who would allow our bluffs to "bite the dust." Malibu Township Council supports uncongested streets, wild animals in the hills and wetlands, clean beaches, natural bluffs and an untouched lagoon. NOT state-sanctioned extortion payments from developers to the state’s favorite “worthy causes” such as the MRCA.
IT WILL BE UP TO YOU.
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Your membership in the MTC will help sustain values that assure Malibu remains a community in which to bring up children and for all to love and to thrive.
Sewer Plan Needs Oversight
To Avoid Over Development
With completion of the sewer system's Phase 1 in progress, it is more important than ever for MTC to be monitoring use of the system.
The new plant makes it possible for unlimited sprawl to consume relatively unspoiled rural areas such as exist in Malibu.
Balancing residential growth with local commerce and tourism can create challenging water-management issues. And with a city council that favors growth issues, MTC must continue the vigilant representation of the majority of residents who wish to prevent scarring the hillsides, and demolishing the wild and unharmed meadows, creeks, and lagoons that still remain.
More density increases the demand for water. And more irrigation increases water flow into creeks that feed into the sea, which has been hard hit by oxygen depletion and the thinning of species. With more than 500 sea lions reported dead by the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, residents of most Southland beaches recently have seen dead dolphins, sea lions, fish, and tidepool animals, due to toxic substances (including algae overgrowth) being ingested by fish and marine life.
State Plans Malibu Lagoon Redo
For the Second Time in10 years
Snowy Egrets nesting at the Cross Creek shopping center were among more than 72 species of birds affected by the $12 million-plus bulldozing and reshaping of Malibu Lagoon, a boondoggle project of California State Parks that was named the "Restoration and Enhancement Project."
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MTC opposed the 2012 enlargement of the estuary and the subsequent flooding of historically dry ares of Malibu Creek that eventually overtook empty public land. The new shape of the lagoon added water to land that was just east of a thin strip of expensive homes along Malibu Colony Road, putting the homeowners in double jeopardy (from both the Pacific Ocean on the south and the Malibu Lagoon on the north) due to sea level rise caused by climate change.
Members of MTC and Save Malibu Lagoon, along with hundreds of surfers, swimmers, members of the California Native Plants Society and chapter members of the Audubon Society, conducted protests and wrote letters to Malibu City Council members, which eventually withheld full support of the project. A lawsuit was filed against the state by Wetlands Defense Fund.
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Residents implored governmental officials not to disturb the many endangered and rare species of birds and mammals (including endangered voles and weasels), and near the extinct Tidewater Goby fish, as well as numerous reptiles living in the lagoon area.
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The efforts were rewarded when Superior Court Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith issued a one-year stay while he wrote his final decision and indicated he favored protecting the area. Instead, in a stunning and mysterious 180-degree reversal, he issued a decision allowing the governor-backed project to continue.
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Quaint and picturesque wooden bridges were destroyed, disappointing and saddening many disabled people who had found easy access to the beach. A rare opportunity for the public to watch rare birds in the wild was lost. And many children, artists, and photographers who set up tripods and canvases, were denied the ability to enjoy the idyllic nature experience.
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Most of the unfortunate results that had been predicted by project opponents eventually did occur. The migratory bird population died back, the altered water currents began washing away portions of the Adamson House property, and the famous Malibu waves at Surfrider Beach, waves that surfers had enjoyed for 100 years or more, were harmed. Angry and sad surfers noted that "the wave never will be the same." Meanwhile, California State Parks officials are planning another project and once again they are saying it will "restore and enhance" the lagoon.
MTC-Backed Retail
Ordinance Works to
Protect Local Commerce
Maintaining Malibu's coastal bluffs in their natural configuration, without bulldozing, grading, or other major alterations is crucial to the appearance of the city, and this principle is one of the historically important positions taken by Malibu Township Council. MTC supports enforcement of current building codes and development laws that prevent excessive alteration of the natural geoscape. MTC also is against any alteration or excessive digging into the coastline or other natural coastal properties. MTC opposes all development that causes unnecessary grading of the delicate hillsides along PCH. This includes the Malibu Inn Motel/Hotel which plans to gouge out and truck away 20 million pounds of hillside earth, a process that will cause major traffic backlogs and threaten the future of the historic Malibu Inn building where Aviator Nation now is located.
MTC Favors Saving Bluff's Natural Shape
MTC Plays Major Role in Protecting our Coastal Bluffs
The 84-acre Bluffs Preserve is the last vast vacant expanse of public land near central Malibu. Its very existence is a bold statement that emphasizes residents' unique approach to land use, with unaltered fields, gullies, and wild terrain allowed to remain near the civic center. As such, Bluffs Park underscores the values on which the city was founded.
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However, the state-owned land, managed by the Mountain Recreation Conservation Authority (MRCA) long has been out of the city's direct control as it was designated for passive recreational use by the California Coastal Commission. And there are few passive recreational uses besides hiking and camping.
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In recent years, Malibu City Council attempted to buy the property via an experimental five-year lease in which the Bluffs Park would be exchanged for a Malibu-owned tract of wild parkland, (the 532-acre Charmlee Park located 13 miles west of Civic Center). The lease was planned for five years to allow Malibu and the State of California to develop and work out details of the proposed land uses.
Proponents of the plan said the exchange would would have allowed Malibu to greatly expand sports activities at the Bluffs site. Several buildings and sports centers and facilities that would significantly increase vehicle and foot traffic also would be located there. MTC spoke for a variety of residential and business interests who had feared the new land use could cause serious harm to the Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHA). As a result the property trade did not take place.
Ostensibly, the trade was proposed so that Malibu Little League players would have a permanent place to play ball even though there were other city sites suitable for ball playing.
So, which was it going to be? Ball playing or camping?
While some locals feared that camping -- a use favored by the state -- was inherently susceptible to illegal fires and overnight sleeping outside of designated areas, others knew that the heavy traffic created by numerous sports tournaments, and construction of large facilities would mean permanent destruction of ESHA and would impose a heavy use of the property. The conflict continues while the state continues to assert its right to put campsites on the area.
Rise in Dead Sea Lions, Dolphins Hits Beaches
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Malibu beach residents were sharing stories of dead sea mammals this summer, with dead sea lions spotted at Escondido Beach, Malibu Road (in two locations), and Carbon Beach. At right is an eight-foot sea lion that died and later was washed under the pilings of a home on Malibu Road, alongside the remains of a dead dolphin.
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Throughout Southern Callifornia, officials estimated that more than 100 dolphins and over 500 sea lions had been killed by an algal bloom, which is an overgrowth of algae caused by pollution, excessive nutrients, as well as warming sea waters. In sea mammals that ingest the algae or fish that have ingested it, it produces domoic acid which is poisonous to animals but generally not lethal to humans.
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When a sea animal suffers from domoic acid poisoning, erratic behavior occurs, eyes bulge, and there is a foaming at the mouth. The acid affects the animal's brain and causes seizures.
MTC Advocates a Poison Free Malibu
It has been more than 10 years since Malibu residents have been fighting to end use of rodenticides, pesticides, and herbicides. Malibu is prime habitat for bobcats and mountain lions, such as the beloved P-22, the Hollywood mountain lion that managed to cross two deadly freeways and take up residence in Griffith Park, a 4,200-acre mountain in urban Los Angeles. He died in 2022 after veterinarians found him suffering from old age along with some symptoms of repeated ingestion of "pest poisons" and other toxic substances. Below, P-22's is image as captured by automatic tracking cameras. At right a wild Malibu bobcat -- affectionally called Bobby -- prowls directly under homes along Ocean View Drive about 250 yards north of the Malibu city line.
MTC has long championed the work of Poison Free Malibu in striving to make it illegal to use animal and insect poisons. P-22's death was a reminder that these poisons also kill a variety of other animals including Bobcats, Grey Foxes, owls, hawks, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, ground squirrels, Great Blue Herons, and Great White Egrets, all of whom eat the rodents that have eaten the poison.
