Malibu Beach Inn Recommendation: No – Stay On One Side Of PCH

Allowing the Malibu Beach Inn to expand its parking lot across Pacific Coast Highway is unsafe and will cause a significant traffic jam on the coast highway.

That’s the conclusion of the Malibu city staff … in its long-awaited analysis of the hotel’s request to jump the PCH and put its parking lot on the inland side of the road.

That would allow the hotel to open its hotel-guest only restaurant to the public … something it’s already done illegally.

Also … it would allow most of the parking lot to be ripped out and replaced with a swimming pool.

The hotel is also asking to put in 21 parking lot lifts … which allow valets to park cars on top of each other.

Installations like that are common in Manhattan … but quite unusual in California and unprecedented in Malibu.

The double-stack car lifts would be partially hidden behing 12-foot planter walls to be planted along the coast highway … although they would still apparently be quire prominent.

The city staff report says the valets would travel back and forth across P C H using a recently-approved crosswalk …. but the city has told Caltrans it does not want the corsswalk there … so close to the existing traffic signal crosswalk at the malibu Pier.

Cars would zigzag acorss P C H … back and forth from the hotel to the parking lot.

The hotel has hired a traffic engineer … who believes the impacts are minimal and the proposed valet operation is safe.

The City’s traffic engineer disagrees.

And … the hotel already has illegally added seats to its dining room …. built a deck out over the ocean … and as a result almost doubled its seating capacity.

No additional parking spaces were added.

Some malibu residents have raised strong opposition to the request … which they say is a reward to the hotel for the illegal operation of its restaurant.

The parking across the street plan … they say … would be a giant cork on P C H sandwiched between the Malibu Pier and the illegal across-the-highway parking violations at Nobu and Soho House.

The matter goes before the planning commission Monday.