City Gave Developer 33 Percent Density Bonus And Got Unbuildable Land In Exchange

• THIS STORY WAS CORRECTED AT 10 am on Thursday, Oct 10.  The city council that approved the land deal at La Pax (now the Ranch at Cross Creek) did that 16 years ago, not “about 14 years ago”, as we originally reported.

The Malibu City Council 16 years ago made a trade with a real estate developer … and looks like the developer got the goldmine … and the city got the shaft.

The city has just released the latest list of what can be done with five pieces of vacant land 

One of the lots is 2.2 acres of land tucked behind the new shopping center … the Ranch at Cross Creek.

Back in 2008 .. 16 years ago .. a Malibu city council gave a 33 percent density bonus to developer Don Schmitz and his clients  …  who wanted to build a shopping center called La Paz.

La Paz was built … it’s now called Cross Creek Ranch.

Now .. the city is looking at what can be built on its 2.2 acres … plus on the other four pieces of vacant land that it owns. 

Turns out … the land is unbuildable.

The lot behind Cross Creek Ranch might liquefy during a major quake. 

Or the land might settle unevenly in a quake … says a new city report.

The steep hillside above it might tumble down onto it … in an earthquake.

And there is a possibility that earthquake faults may actually cross the land … it would require digging a trench across it to see if the fault can be mapped.

Of course … it’s very possible that an earthquake trench might flood … as the parking garage dug out next door repeatedly filled up with water while it was under construction.

The two-acre lot behind the new cross Creek Ranch shopping centers also too small to host a swimming pool .. a performing arts center … low cost housing … things like that.

Similar problems exist at the triangle lot … at PCH at Webb Way. 

The Triangle Lot is a small piece off land that was leftover from when Civic Center Way was built in the 1950s. 

It cannot host any vertical structure for various zoning reasons. 

And then there is the problem of the Metro money that was used by Malibu to swing the 25 million dollar purchase of land from the Malibu Bay Company. 

The city got 3-1/2 million dollars from Metro to swing the deal.

The money had been intended to be Metro’s contribution to fix safety problems on Pacific Coast Highway.

But the city council. … 12 years ago … decided buying the land to prevent development was more important. 

In order to satisfy terms of the Metro grant … the city will either have to build several hundred park and ride spaces … or pay Metro to get out of that. 

As for the city-owned lots at Heathercliff… along Trancas Canyon Road … and the chili cookout site at Civic Center … those three are feasible for all of the possible uses … proposed by residents.

Those range from an indoor theater to a pool and splash pad combo … to sports fields.

The City Council will review the outcome of the outreach and engagement program at two meetings at City Hall:

A special City Council Meeting – Thursday, October 24 – from 1-3 p.m.

And then … the regular City Council Meeting … Monday October 28 … at 5:30 p.m.

Deciding what to do with the five pieces of land… Including the junk lot behind Cross Creek Ranch… will be up to the next city council.

Malibu Township Council Loses Again In 12-Year Legal Spat With Former City Attorney

The Malibu Township Council has lost another court battle with the city government.

The political lobbying club will have to pay for the city’s legal expenses for their losing appeal to the state court of appeal. 

The issue was Township Council lawyer Frank Angel’s longstanding beef with the city attorney at the time … Christi Hogin.  

Angel contended that the city violated the state’s open meetings law … nearly 12 years ago.

Back then. … the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy gave the city a proposed lawsuit settlement … 200 thousand dollars for the city …

But because of tight deadline set by the California Coastal Commission … the city council needed to either accept or reject the deal within 36 hours.

Toop short to post a notice that the council was going into executive session. 

It was allowed to discuss the tight deadline … but they had to take a public vote first … to go behind closed door.s 

Too short … said the Malibu Township Council … claiming violation of the state’s open meetings laws.

In a lengthy discussion and opinion… the state court of appeal rejected the Malibu Township council’s arguments and sided with city attorney Christi Hogin … who retired in 2020. 

The appellate court found that Hogin’s testimony about the need for the immediate meeting … which was justifiably behind closed doors … meant that the meeting could be held without a normal advance public notice.

In a unanimous finding … the three judges affirmed a lower court ruling … and said the city was correct … 

The court of appeal ruled that the Malibu Township Council should pay the legal costs incurred by the city … to respond to Frank Angel’s suit.

Gascon In Last-Ditch Effort To Overcome 30 Point Deficit Against DA Challenger Hochman 

LA county attorney Steve Gascon swept into office four years ago at the height of voters concern about black people getting shot by police.

And his opponent this year … Nathan Hochman … looks poised to sweep Gascon out of office with a strong … if reactionary … appeal for law and order.

Hochman looks like an overwhelming winner. 

With the mail-in ballots arriving this week … Hochman has a commanding 51 percent to 21 percent of the vote …. According to the latest opinion polls by the LA Times and the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

The two candidates debated last night… With Hockman repeatedly painting Gascon as woke … walking away from property crimes … refusing to prosecute some crimes like burglaries. 

Nathan Hochman…. at last night’s debate. 

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“We need to send a very strong message of enforcement accountability, and ultimately deterrence, to those residential burglars. “

GascOn accused Hochman of fear mongering. 

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“This is a dystopian view of our community. It is is feeding into the worst of us instead of looking to see how can we work together.”

Nathan Hochmna is campaigning for what he calls the hard middle … a rejection of extreme policies … like mass incarceration. 

He says the prosecutors in LA must look at each case individually … and press for punishment that is proportional for the crime committed.

George Gascon points out his office does not do police patrols … does not arrest people.

He claimed that his office right now prosecutes about  90% of the cases presented to them … My work is to make sure that when police bring somebody for prosecution that we would do everything that we can to hold that person accountable.”

Hochman attacked that. 

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HOCHMAN: “His record of public safety failure, violent crimes property crimes hate crimes shoplifting human trafficking is up either double digits or triple digits since he started.”
GASCON: “Let me just talk to you about crime numbers. I was running LAPD Comstat while Mr. Hogan was defending the wealthy to avoid paying taxes.”

The debate last night came down to what has been proven to be a losing argument for Gascon. 

He’s down 30 points as the at-home polling starts.

Culvert replacement planned for Pacific Coast Highway next three days and nights

Caltrans has scheduled daytime and nighttime moving lane closures for tow chunks of Pacific Coast Highway today … tomorrow … and Friday.

12 old metal culverts that pass underneath the highway are in danger of failing and need to be replaced.

The metal pipes were installed in the 1940s.

At the western end of Malibu… both daytime and nighttime work will be done … from Encinal Canyon Road in Malibu to west to county line beach … near Mulholland Highway.

Lasmnerds will be closed … next three days and nights. 

Nighttime lane closures are also scheduled in eastern Malibu… between Sunset Boulevard in and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Another Quake Aftershock Rumbles Malibu

Another aftershock rocked Malibu yesterday.

It was magnitude 2.4… With an epicenter just a little bit south of Kanan-Dume tunnel one. 

It struck at 3:18 yesterday afternoon.

The USGS did not get any reports that anyone felt it.