City Council Opposes Lagoon Project

Malibu City Council took a decisive stance on the Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project at Monday's City Council meeting, choosing to oppose the project in its current form and authorizing mayor Laura Rosenthal to send a letter to Governor Jerry Brown and other necessary agencies expressing the city's disapproval of the project.

In addition to authorizing the mayor's letter, councilmembers also authorized the city attorney to file an amicus brief regarding the City's opposition to the project, directed the city manager to negotiate an independent study of the project with the U.S. Geological Survey, and City Council will seek to appoint two councilmembers to an ad hoc commmittee that will look to collaborate with the State to create an alternative to the proposed project.

After roughly 80 public speakers addressed City Council, a majority of them opposing the project, Rosenthal and the Council commented that the project in its current form was not worthy of the City's complete support.

“I don’t know if Mother Nature has had a chance to do what she needs to do because man has been involved in this area for too long," Rosenthal said.

Councilmember John Sibert said at Monday's meeting that a letter sent to the State Parks department by the City of Malibu received a reply on April 5. The letter was meant to express concerns over the Restoration Project in its current form, and Sibert commented that in the reply letter, a number of the City's questions were not properly addressed. 

"I think we should withdraw our support for this project until all of the scientific facts are found out," Sibert said.

Councilmembers Jefferson Wagner and Pamela Conley Ulich, who originally proposed the agenda item, as well as mayor pro tem Lou La Monte, were all in agreement that the project needs a thorough review before it is implemented.

"The concept of millions of gallons of that water being pulled out is reason enough to pull our support from this project," La Monte said.

Although Monday's decision was a huge victory in the eyes of many that attended the meeting, there was a contingency within the audience that supported the project, maintaining the stance that the Lagoon was "dying."

Wagner and Rosenthal conceded that there are troubles with the Lagoon, but that the current project is not the correct course of action.

“I support the project in theory, but what they’ve proposed, I can’t get behind," Wagner said.

"I do think that something needs to be done [to the Lagoon], but I would support me sending a letter," Rosenthal said. 

Andy Lyon, one of the Lagoon project's staunchest opponents, was vocal throughout the meeting, offering a Powerpoint presentation to those in attendance and imploring City Council to oppose the project.

“You need to fight this," Lyon said. "You have to do everything in your power to fight this project.”

What do you think about City Council's decision? Tell us in comments.