Neighbors Appeal MHS Improvement Project to Coastal Commission

Neighbors of Malibu High School are challenging the Malibu Planning Commission's approval of the MHS Campus Improvement Project.

The Malibu Park residents, represented by the Malibu Community Alliance (MCA), filed an appeal with the California Coastal Commission this week, according to Steve Uhring, a member of the MCA.

The group claims the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District failed to agree to the least damaging environmental alternative in approving the project.

In a statement, the MCA said:

At the end of nearly four hours of discussion at the Malibu Planning Commission Meeting on March 19, representatives of the School District and the Malibu Community Alliance reached a compromise agreement. This agreement limited night lighting of the new parking lot proposed for the ridgeline and set standards for a longer term project calling for the installation of state of the art lighting in the high schools' two additional parking lots.

Subsequent to that vote the Compromise Agreement was altered. The Compromise Agreement limited night lighting on 2/3 of the new parking lot to nights when late night athletic events were taking place or for other significant campus events. Both sides agreed that this would be limited to 31 nights a year. The new plan expands the use of night lighting and allows the entire parking lot to be lit up every night until 8 p.m

The group also claims that the agreement called for 12-foot light poles in the additional high school parking lots, but that the district no longer acknowledges the height restriction.

Cami Winikoff, who has been a vocal opponent to 70-foot athletic lights at Malibu High School, said the Malibu Community Alliance reached out to the district.

“When that effort failed an appeal to the Coastal Commission was the only way for us to protect our neighborhood," Winikoff said. "We cannot continue to allow the district to say one thing and do another."

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District officials and supporters of the Malibu Campus Improvement plan were not immediately available for comment.

At the March 19 Malibu Planning Commission meeting, Winikoff and her attorney stood with district officials and tentatively agreed not to appeal the decision.

The commission approved the project, with these restrictions: 

• Lighting for a new 150-space parking lot with three motion sensor sensitive zones. One of the three zones will be open for daily use year round. A physical barrier will be put in place between the other parking zones with closure at 8 p.m.
• The entire 150-space parking lot will be open for the same 16 nights as the 70-foot athletic field lights and an additional 15 nights for special events.
• The two other parking lots will apply as closely as possible to the same technology and lighting restrictions as the upper 150-space parking lot.
• The remaining lights on campus will be LEED fixtures. 
• All the lighting restrictions will be under a one-year review period, which will be revisited by the Malibu Planning Commission.

The project calls for new classrooms, a library, computer and science labs and an administrative building, totaling 20,274 square feet. The main building will also include "green roofs," which are meant to reduce storm water runoff and provide an outdoor learning space, according to the SMMUSD website.