KBUU Newswire Mon Apr 16: $42.5 Million Land Purchase Upends City Parks Picture

Bluffs Park .. Legacy Park … a new Civic Center Park ???

This is KBUU News

The headlines:

= The city of Malibu unveils ambitious plans to buy new parkland … at the Civic Center and at Point Dume.

= 42 million dollars will be borrowed … transferred or reassigned from road projects.

= Do the cities over the hill need to approve … regional transit money spent on Malibu parks?

= A huge decision looms for the people of Malibu.

= Winds gusting to 45 miles an hour today on the beach.

This is Malibu’s only local daily news. It’s the   ((((  internet   ))) edition of the (((  Monday ))) news … from Radio Malibu  …. F-M 99 point 1 K B U U. Good morning … I’m Hans Laetz reporting.

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Two major Malibu institutions may be in for some major changes …

The city has unveiled plans to buy three huge pieces of land … at the Civic Center and at Point Dume.

And that may mean a change in plans for Bluffs Park.

And … the Santa Monica school board appears to be on the way to shelving plans for remodeling the old part of Malibu High School.

We’ll have details on that in just a minute … but first … the parks purchase.

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In the biggest real estate shuffle since the purchase of Malibu’s Legacy Park 19 years ago … Malibu’s city council is preparing to buy three large pieces of land … two at the Civic Center … one at Point Dume.

The estate of Jerry Perenchio is poised to sell the land for 42 point 5 million dollars.

Half of that money would go to pay for the land now used by the Chili Cook-off… nearly 10 acres of almost-flat land at the corner of Stuart Ranch Road at Civic Center Way.

The triangular lot at the corner of P C H at Webb Way … now covered with construction equipment for the sewer project … is included.

And the third parcel … the largest undeveloped plot on Point Dume … the flat land where Perenchio had graciously allowed Malibu High School boosters to sell Christmas Trees.

The 18 and a half acres on Point Dume … like the other two parcels … is zoned for commercial development.

Sale prices … as estimated at fair market value … are just above 18 million dollars on Point Dume … just above 3 million for the small traffic island at Webb at P C H … and 21 million dollars for the largest parcel … the Chili Cookoff site … near City Hall.

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Huge questions are raised by the land purchase.

How will the city pay for the 42 point 5 million outlay???

12 million dollars from the city’s piggy bank … rainy day account … and that would be just under half of what the city has in the “undesignated reserve” checking account.

The city manager says that still leaves sufficient money left … in the reserve account.

One million dollars … in an account to expand Bluffs Park … would be diverted.

And then … two funding sources that may prove controversial.

First … the city intends to borrow money in a type of loan called a “certificate of participation.”

Think of that like a bond issue … a mortgage … but one that does not need a vote of approval from the voters.

Malibu has already taken out similar mortgages to buy city hall … buy the Legacy Park site … and to buy Trancas Fields.

The city manager says those mortgage payments will be expiring in 20 years … at which time … these new mortgage payments would increase … for the final 10 years of the 30-year loan.

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You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … F-M 99 point 1 K B U U.  ((( time  ))))

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All that money together … still leaves the land purchase 7 point 4 million dollars short.

The city manager proposes using county transportation bond money … from Measure R … for that.

Measure R is the half cent sales tax designated for transportation projects.

Metro … which administers Measure R money … allows local cities to designate 15 percent of the 40 billion dollar Measure R fund for local transportation projects.

Things like street resurfacing; pothole repair; left turn signals; bikeways; pedestrian improvements; signal synchronization; and transit.

How can this transportation money be used for city parks?

The city manager says the answer is in parking lots … at the new parks … for park and ride uses.

All three properties are located along an established Metro bus route … she says.

That would be the transportation element.

That … despite the fact there is virtually zero demand for park and ride lots in Malibu … and the fact that the Metro 534 bus use dropped 16 percent per year …. and bus connections to the Metro Expo Line are inconvenient at best.

Regional Measure R spending is controlled by the four small cities along the 1-0-1 Freeway … and it is an open question if they will OK spending regional transit money on buying vacant land in Malibu.

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And there are other questions as well.

By raiding the piggy bank to buy the land … there may not be much left to build the parks.

Now … Malibu has rallied behind parks construction before … as the campaign to buy and construct Legacy Park 20 years ago shows.

But Malibu faces other expensive challenges as well.

The undersized … obsolete and in some places crumbling water system may need some major and expensive repairs.

It is looking more and more likely that a bond issue will be necessary to complete the reconstruction of Malibu High School … a whole other story.

Residents in the Civic Center area are faced with hooking up to the expensive new sewer system.

And the increasing sea levels put the owners of oceanfront houses in Malibu in a quandry … complicated the 30-year picture.

Other small coastal cities … like Montecito … are learning that there can never be enough reserve money in the piggy bank for when a major disaster wipes out a significant portion of the tax rolls.

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City council members say past financial conservatism means the city will not be overextended … by borrowing 21 million dollars for this.

Councilwoman Laura Rosenthal… for example … tells KBUU News that she would never approve of this concept if it put the city’s financial health at risk.

As for what would be built at the chili cook off site … Rosenthal says she and other city council members have not discussed that.

Says she … quote … “We (council) haven’t discussed the uses at Bluffs except at all of the public meetings we had when we were looking at what to do there and how to go forward.  

“We also don’t know what can fit at Sycamore Village or what the community wants there.”

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The other major news  … the decision by the Santa Monica school board majority to hold off further repairs Malibu High School

And we will have coverage on that … tomorrow.

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Traffic …

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Weather for the Malibu ….

It will be ((((   very windy   )))) today … highs  ((((   62   )))) beaches … ((((   64   )))) mountains and canyons.

Winds will be blasting down the coast up to  45 miles per hour this afternoon.

Sunset tonight is at   ((((     7:26    )))).

After that … (((  clear and cold    )))) tonight … low ((((   49   )))) beaches …  ((((  42   )))) mountains and canyons.

Tomorrow should be   ((((   sunny and again windy … but not as windy as today.  )))).

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This newscast was recorded this morning for broadcast at this time.

We’ll be back later this week with live traffic reports.

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The KBUU Newswire is posted midmornings … at RadioMalibu.net and at the MalibuTimes.com websites.

Remember…  breaking news always  goes first to the radio …  on F-M 99 point 1 over all of Malibu….

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Navigate to Radio Malibu dot net . … and we’re streaming in your ear anywhere in the world.

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