Coastal Tells Caltrans ‘Pull A Permit’ For Plan To Erase 2,171 Parking Places In Malibu
Written by 991KBU on June 30, 2022
Caltrans may have gotten a dose of reality delivered by the California Coastal Commission yesterday.
The state highway agency announced two days ago that it is considering removing up to 2,171 parking places along Pacific Coast Highway… 16 miles of Pacific Coast Highway… from the Malibu Lagoon west to the county line.
The parking places would be erased to make away for class two bike lanes… those are 5 foot wide painted lanes.
Less than 18 hours later … Coastal reportedly demanded that their fellow state employees in the Transportation Department conform with the Malibu Local Coastal Plan. That’s according to a Caltrans engineer, in a statement to KBUU News.
The LCP requires that a permit be pulled … and that beach access parking be preserved … even by other state agencies.
The Caltrans Bike Lane plan has been put forth without any input from the City Of Malibu… no specific plan presented for the public to review … no review from the sheriff’s department traffic experts. And perhaps most importantly… no input from the California Coastal Commission.
Under state law… the Coastal Commission controls all land-use planning in Malibu.
And in the past… Coastal has said a firm “no” to efforts by the city to reduce parking in some narrow PCH areas… where it is unsafe.
In a brief statement from Caltrans yesterday … a Caltrans engineer tells KBUU News that the Coastal staff contacted Caltrans yesterday morning.
The Coastal representative “(advised) us to submit a coastal development permit application. We will be working with them closely on that” said the Caltrans engineer.
The state LCP for Malibu says “existing parking areas serving recreational uses shall not be displaced unless a comparable replacement area is provided.” But it also allows restrictions on public parking where they are needed to protect public safety.
City of Malibu officials tell KBUU that they have rejected Caltrans requests to join in on sponsoring the project.
One way or the other … it looks like the decision on how 16 miles of Malibu’s main street will be rearranged will be made by state bureaucrats … working for either Caltrans or Coastal.
