• A Malibu populace that seems to be unable to agree on anything … begins to try to reach consensus on where to build parks.
• KBUU news learns that the city is trying to buy a mountain top square in the middle of Malibu.  Again.
• Will the Malibu triathlon come back and if so, who will run it?
• The Malibu Film Society wants to show more movies at City Hall.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom agrees with Elon Musk … and disses his own Coastal Commission.
• He says the commission blew it when it turned down requests to blast rockets over a marine sanctuary. 

Talks Begin: Will Malibu Reach Consensus Over Parks? City Reveals Survey Results

Community that seemingly cannot agree on anything asked to agree on parks

Will it be an arts center … or soccer fields … or pickleball courts … at the chili cookoff site?  Or maybe just leave it a gravel lot?

That may be the big issue … starting today … as Malibu tries to come to a community consensus on what to do with five pieces of vacant land owned by the city.

In a city that cannot agree to stop at a blacked out traffic light … that consensus may be hard to imagine. 

This afternoon at 5 … the arts commission and the parks commission will have a joint meeting at city hall. 

The biggest point of contention might be the chili cook off site … the flat vacant land that the city owns at the corner of Webb way and Civic Center Way.

That land was intended to become playing fields … back when the city council brought it more than a decade ago. 

And the city parks commission has been strong advocates to add adult and kid recreation fields.
But the arts commission has been a strong proponent of an indoor facility at the same site … to host art shows … studios … movie screenings … and other indoor uses.

City officials have released the final survey information.

And it shows a third alternative … leaving the open space as open space … has emerged as a consistently popular option in feedback collected through the community.

At all five vacant sites … the city says there was significant support for grass sports fields across all five pieces of land. 

At the Triangle Lot … on PCH at Webb Way .. the most popular ideas were open space or community garden.

But number three was parking… either for park and ride or as a shuttle bus center to take people to overcrowded parking areas near trailheads.

At the La Paz site… back behind the new shopping center… a community garden was the number one idea … followed by open space or trails.

Out at Point Dume… at the Heathercliff lot … three proposed ideas essentially tied … grass fields for sports … tied with open space … and just being that … a swimming pool and splash pad complex.

At Trancas Canyon Road … the overwhelming preference was to leave it as open space or maybe a community garden.   Two to one majority there. 

There is a joint meeting off the parks commission … and the arts commission … tonight at 5 to begin consensus building … if that is possible.

The city council will have a special meeting Thursday afternoon at 1 to hash this over.

It may make some sort of decision at next Monday’s city council meeting.

But with the election two weeks from now … it will be up to the next city council to make decisions. 

City Jockeying With MRCA To Buy Mountaintop Right Above Latigo Beach

KBUU News has learned that the City of Malibu is in negotiations to buy nearly all of Solstice Hill … a prominent piece of land sticking up above Latigo Beach.

There have been efforts by both the city and the MRCA … the outside parks agency trying to control Malibu … to buy that hill.

It sits above the gas station and traffic light at PCH at Latigo Canyon Road. 

It sits on a saddle of flatland… providing a view stretching from Point Dume to Santa Ana to Catalina.

If the MRCA and Joe Edmiston buy it … the controversial parks agency could put a campground or other high intensity use up there.

It’s a very prominent site… driving west on PCH from Puerco Canyon … It’s the mountain sticking out next to the ocean.

Two city council members have been meeting behind closed doors… trying to swing a deal for the city to buy Solstice Hill.

The land sits right in the middle of the portfolio assembled by the MRCA … and buying that key property would give Malibu an enormous bargaining with the agency.

But the MRCA has also been negotiating to buy the site. 

The question will be … who gets control the mountain at the heart of Malibu. 

Triathlon May Resume Next year

The former operator of the Malibu triathlon is being recommended to take another stab at running the popular fall race… which has fallen victim to road construction and a flooded underpass..

Michael Epstein, and his group … Zuma Foundation Inc. … got his exclude contract for the event canceled last May …

Epstein said the zigzag detour at the Trancas Creek bridge construction… Plus the flooded underpass at Zuma Creek… Made it unsafe to put runners and bicyclist on PCH to practice and train. 

So last May… The city council decided in effect to cancel the triathlonAgreement with Zuma Foundation Inc.

It opened up applications for the triathlon slot… And they got five applicants.

Committee interviewed them and once again selected Michael Epstein and his Zuma foundation Inc. to run the triathlon in September.

None of this directly affects the Malibu moves 5K fun run… Which is still on for this weekend at Zuma Beach.

Planning Commission Gives County 2 Years To Replace Water Tank That The City Delayed 8 Years

How hard can it be to replace an ancient water tank… That’s been there for 60 years and is literally falling apart on Bush Drive above Malibu high school.

Ask the waterworks department, which has been trying to get approval through Malibu City Hall for more than a decade.

Construction of a 300 thousand gallon replacement tank has been delayed for years by members of the Malibu Planning Commission.

Last night … the commission voted to approve yet another extension of the tank’s permits … for another two years. 

Last night…. Commissioner Skylar Peake asked the county to hurry up the project.

70696 TANK SKYLAR 

“It’s really hard when you guys have a community that’s been so affected by a wildfire, and we appreciate the upgrades for the tank. 

“But this community was like really devastated ver that. And to see that getextended and extended and extended, and we understand that there are reasons for that. 

“But like, we we need to answer to our community for that and it’s really frustrating for us and I’m sure it is for you – the county and for the water district – in not being able to deliver that.

“So, however we can determine by lighting a fire under your ass to get it done sooner… That would be awesome.”

But those with long memories might remember that it was the Malibu Planning Commission that caused long delays in the Lower Busch water tank project.

It repeatedly .. over the last 8 years … the planning commission repeatedly erected barricades towards the replacement water tank’s city permits.

First … it was an objection to a proposed bathroom for county employees. That caused a delay for a redesign.

Then … it was an objection to the lack of landscaping around the water tank. That caused a delay for a redesign.

County waterworks superintendent Jack Hughstead [SPELLED PHONETICALLY]

70697 TANK HUSTEAD

“The lower Busch tank replacement project is an aging tank.  We are going to replace it with a new tank that is slightly bigger in size. 

“But yeah, some of the delays have been related to actually the CDP itself. There was a request to add landscaping and amend the permit for that and that actually added some time.”

The Project has been at the Planning Commission … and going through redesign and redesign… for about 8 years.

Commissioner John Mazza head advocated for the redesign … but last night … Mazza pointed the finger of blame at the county,

Mazda wanted to deny the two-year requested extension… to try to force the county to build it in one year.

70698 TANK MAZZA 

“I just would like to comment that they could possibly get construction going within a year, and then they wouldn’t have to come back and get another extension.

“So like you said, Lighting a fire under their ass is constructive, so far as I’m concerned … and for the citizens of Malibu.”

Last night… Mazza and commissioner Kraig Hill both voted to deny the two-year extension… and give the county only one year to start construction on the tank. 

County said it couldn’t do that… the schedule was too tight.

And if they missed the target again … they would have to wait a year … 

And that would mean the water tank replacement would have to then go through yet another lengthy session in the Planning Commission delay machine.

The other three commissioners voted to grant the permit. 

Construction should start in about a year.

Malibu Film Society asks to show more movies at City Hall

The Malibu Film Society is asking to show more movies at Malibu City Hall.

Forced out of its longtime home in Malibu by bizarre city planning department rule interpretations … the local group has been showing movies in Agoura Hills and sometimes Pacific Palisades. 

Last summer .., the Film Society showed a three movies in Malibu City Hall. 

About 60 to 100 people attended the shows.

The Film Society thinks it might attract more attendees if they add some weekend dates … but the city would need to hire another technician to work the machinery to make that happen. 

The city spends about 900 dollars per show for staffing. 

The request goes to the city council next Monday. 

By the way .. the Malibu Film Society has announced six fall screenings coming soon … over the hill at the Regency Agoura Hills Stadium 8 theater.

Movies including Blitz … September 5 and Wicked.

Information about attending is online at “MFSreservations.org.”

Gov Sides With Elon Musk In Battle Over Santa Barbara Rocket Launches

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is on Elon Musk’s side … and against his own Coastal Commissioners … in the battle over Space X rocket launches up the coast .

The governor tells politico dot the website … that the coastal commission overstepped its bounds when it said Elon Musk’s political activities … and international meddling … made his company unfit.

Musk sued the California Coastal Commission last week … pointing out that the commission “engaged in naked political discrimination” when it rejected a request to ratchet up the number of Space X launches at its spaceport near Santa Barbara.

Musk’s company uses Vandenberg Space Force Base … 100 miles up the coast from Malibu … to launch its flotilla of Starlink Internet relay spacecraft.

Spacelink says it gets to bypass California coastal environmental review … and mitigation … because they are launching from a military base.

Federal law gives California the right to review private activities on federal bases. 

But it appears to the governor that the Coastal Commissioners blundered into impermissible political interference … when they criticized Elon Musk politics … instead of SpaceX pollution.

Newsom told Politico … quote … “You can’t bring up that explicit level of politics.”

He went on:  “These are friends of mine that said that.

“These are good commissioners. But you got to call balls and strikes. And trust me, I’m not big on the Elon Musk bandwagon right now. So that’s me calling balls and strikes.”

Getting lost in the political battle is the fact that hundreds of sonic booms are rattling endangered colonies of Marne mammals In wildlife preserves,

SpaceX is also launching more than a dozen small rockets … to measure weather conditions … every time a bigger rockets lifts off from Vandenberg.

The company has blown past its allotment of 18 rocket launches … it wants more than 50 per year.

The cumulative impact of all that rocket exhaust… All that noise… And all those rocket boosters and radio units falling into the ocean… Still not even studied.