Supes Don’t Answer Malibu Pleas For Fire Protection
Written by 991KBU on December 11, 2019
Malibu got shot down big time … on the issue of camping in the Santa Monica Mountains …. at the county board of supervisors yesterday.
Without discussion … the supervisors turned down last minute requests for safety precautions … as the M R C A plans to build campsites in wilderness areas …. right next to the city limits.
It was the second reading of the county’s ordinance … to allow camping … yesterday at the county Hall of Administration in Los Angeles.
Mountain resident Victoria Hand … and Malibu resident Barry Haldeman … made last minute pleas.
NEWSCARTS 75380 AND 75381
VICTORIA HAND: “Why are you not requiring that fire extinguishers and the like be placed in these new camping areas?
BARRY HALDEMAN: “There is only one inspection per day, on red flag days … and that will be by somebody who is a campground manager … not even a ranger of a fire person et et cetera.
“Why is this new camping not going to be supervised like all of the existing state park camping areas in the Santa Monica Mountains?
Those questions not answered.
In fact … the supervisors did not comment on the camping provision at all … and left it on the consent agenda with a whole bunch of other items … it passed by a unanimous vote.
So what’s next??
The state Coastal Commission will have to ratify the camping plan … that;’s a slam dunk … they were the ones who requested that the county change its plan.
Lawsuits are all but certain.
But the Mountain Resource Conservation Authority is moving steadily to assemble the real estate … plans and public money … to build campgrounds in Escondido Canyon … and Puerco Canyon .. and maybe elsewhere in Malibu.
