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4 | August 3, 2017 | Malibu surfside news News
malibusurfsidenews.com
What does AB250 mean for Malibu?
Malibuites fear bill’s
potential impact on
city’s open space
Suzanne Guldimann
Freelance Reporter
Local activists are concerned
that a California
assembly bill intended to
facilitate low-cost beach
accommodations could
generate a building frenzy
in Malibu.
The bill was introduced
by Assemblywoman Lorena
Gonzalez Fletcher,
who represents San Diego’s
80th District, and has the
support of State Sen. Henry
Stern, who represents Malibu
and most of the Santa
Monica Mountains.
If AB250 is adopted,
it would require the state
Coastal Conservancy to
“develop and implement
a specified Lower Cost
Coastal Accommodations
Program” intended to facilitate
improvement of existing,
and development of
new, lower-cost accommodations
within 1.5 miles of
the coast, according to the
text of the bill.
The intention is to enable
the state to purchase
existing lower cost accommodations
from willing
sellers, and to operate those
accommodations through
leases or operating agreements
with other agencies,
nonprofits or concessionaires.
However, the bill also
appears to relax restrictions
on building new facilities
in existing parkland, including
campgrounds, cabins
and even hotels.
The bill requires the
Coastal Conservancy to
examine “specific opportunities
to improve existing
and develop new lower cost
accommodations on coastal
public lands and coastal
lands owned or operated by
nonprofit organizations,”
and develop a list of “potentially
suitable sites for
the location of these accommodations.”
It also states that those
lands may include, but are
not limited to, “state, regional,
and local parks,
lands held by harbor or
open space districts, lands
owned by the public but
not yet designated as parks,
lands owned by nonprofit
organizations, and national
parks and other federally
managed lands.”
Although AB250 includes
the entire California
coast, critics of the proposal
say it unfairly targets the
Santa Monica Mountains
and Malibu, the largest remaining
open space area
on the coast near a major
urban center.
Malibu Planning Commission
Chairman John
Mazza, speaking as a
member of the public,
brought the bill to the attention
of the Malibu City
Council last month.
“It’s the biggest threat to
the sovereignty of Malibu
since we became a city,”
Mazza said, criticizing
provisions in the bill that
would open parkland to
development.
“The city has over two
square miles of public
open space within our
boundaries,” Mazza explained.
“[The city is]
surrounded by national,
state park and conservancy
land. This bill would allow
camping on all of that
land, it would allow hotels
on all of that land. The bill
authorizes these agencies
to go to private developers
and get them to do it.”
Like communities all
along California’s coast,
Malibu’s golden age of
low-cost accommodations
peaked in the 1950s when
half a dozen motels offered
inexpensive access to pristine
beaches.
They ran the gamut from
the elegant Holiday House,
designed by legendary architect
Richard Nuetra
and owned and operated
by silent era film director
Dudley Murphy, to the
tiki-themed Tonga-Lei and
the Albatross, a hotel with
a reputation as a site for secret
assignations.
A generation before the
“motor hotels” designed
to accommodate baby
boomer families on roadtrip
vacations that were
part of the mid-century
modern American dream,
tent cabins lined the beach
east of Las Flores, offering
Angelenos an escape from
stifling summer weather in
the era before air conditioning.
However, by the 1970s,
the motel era was waning
fast. Activists successfully
defeated plans for the last
motel proposed for the
city, the 110-room Zuma
motel, which would have
been located across from
Zuma Beach. Several motels
were converted into
shopping centers or office
space. One became
the Malibu Country Mart
— the popular children’s
playground was the motel’s
courtyard and pool.
Others, like the Holiday
House, were converted to
apartments or condominiums,
or transformed from
inexpensive motels into
high-priced boutique hotels.
A quick look at hotel
comparison sites reveals
that the cheapest hotel rate
in Malibu today is in the
$200 range, with the priciest
hotel going for $1,000-
$2,000 a night.
Campers still have lowcost
options. California
State Park campsites at
Leo Carrillo State Park and
Malibu Creek State Park
cost roughly $45 a night.
A site at Thornhill Broome
State Beach, the only place
in the Malibu area where
camping is available directly
on the sand, goes for
$35 a night, according to
the California Department
of Parks and Recreation
website.
The City of Huntington
Beach is the first municipality
on record opposing
AB250, but a variety of
homeowner and local activism
organizations, including
the Las Virgenes
Homeowners Federation
and Preserve Malibu, are
marshaling opposition.
Both local groups express
concerns that the bill will
enable developers to circumvent
environmental
protections and local government
oversight.
Mazza asked the Malibu
City Council to consider
placing the issue on a future
agenda for discussion.
“It’s not good for Malibu,”
Mazza told the Malibu
Surfside News. “Fire
danger is a big political
item in Malibu. This bill
would allow camping in
a state-declared high fire
danger area. It takes planning
decisions away from
the City. It takes away
the City Council’s rights,
it takes away all of our
rights.”
More information on
AB250 can be found online
at leginfo.legislature.
ca.gov.
FEMA plans meeting on revised Malibu floodplain maps
90-day appeal period
to open Aug. 9
Submitted by the City of
Malibu
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency is
holding a public meeting
from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
on Tuesday, Aug. 22, at
Malibu City Hall to discuss
its newly revised drafts of
floodplain maps for areas
within the City of Malibu,
specifically along the coast.
City staff and representatives
from FEMA will
provide information and
discuss the revised draft
floodplain maps, the effects
these maps will have on
development, the need to
annually purchase federal
flood insurance, the FEMA
map adoption process and
schedule, and the FEMA
appeal process.
The floodplain map revisions
are part of the California
Coastal Analysis and
Mapping Program. Based
on engineering studies that
considered tide, wave surge,
wave run-up, and overtopping
analysis, the revised
maps propose to remove
some properties from the
currently effective floodplain
map, and add other
properties for the first time.
Lastly, new base flood elevations
and flood zones
have been established based
upon these studies.
Property owners may
challenge FEMA on the revised
draft floodplain maps
with technical information
by emailing Malibu City
staff at rduboux@malibucity.org
during the 90-day
calendar appeal period
(Aug. 9 to Nov. 6, 2017).
The Criteria for Appeal of
Flood Insurance Rate Maps
are available online.
For an early look at your
home or community‘s projected
risk to flood hazards,
read the preliminary flood
hazard data. The files are
very large and may take
some time to download. The
“Open Pacific Coast Study”
is also available online.
For further questions,
contact Assistant Public
Works Director/City Engineer
Robert DuBoux at
(310) 456-2489 ext. 339 or
rduboux@malibucity.org.