Proposed McMansion Mocks Malibu

The City Council should make short shrift of the appeal of the proposed project at 30053 Harvester Road scheduled to be heard next Thursday, May 8.

And it should do so unanimously, emphatically, to discourage the submission in the future of any such similar egregious developments that threaten, as does 30053, Malibu’s fragile environment, value and future as a singular seacoast village.

Not being able to attend the scheduled Council meeting to testify as both a private concerned private Malibu resident and immodestly as a public planning authority, I herewith add my voice to the chorus opposing the appeal.

It already has consumed too much time of both residents and City Hall as a clearly speculative project, its sponsor's sharp elbows cutting in line and compromising an already strained city permit process that should instead be focused on the rebuilds of displaced residents.

As others have detailed and will testify, the development breaches multiple building and zoning codes in its sprawling, deficient design, encroaching on a critical wildlife corridor, disregarding its neighbors, and corrupting the neighborhood character by its gross size and questionable tenancy.

In sum, 30053 Harvester as proposed would acutely violate the city’s noble Vision and Mission Statements council members are sworn to uphold.

My unfeigned opinion is offered as the past chair of the city’s View Preservation Task force, a decade as Architecture Critic of the LATimes, author, and, not incidentally, being cited by Wikipedia as one of the authors of the neologism “McMansion.”

That is how I would describe 30053 Harvester, which I know I would not want to live next door to, nor I suspect any councilperson would. And make no mistake, this project is a bellwether for the future of Malibu, as is your vote as a councilperson.