Welcome to Malibu's Muddled Governance

If the neighborhood standards and character of the contested development of 30053 Harvester Road could not be determined by the City Council before it voted this week to approve it, neither could the standards and character of the Council itself for the basis of its vote, so the new City Manager, Candace Bond, might have observed upon her welcome to Malibu’s governance.

Also in harsh view was that critically what could not be disclosed at the meeting by the City’s overwrought planning staff, after months mulling over the project, that if there were an ESHA that made the Malibu Park site environmentally sensitive, and, if violated by the proposed construction would have been the basis for its rejection.

As it were, councilpersons Silverstein and Uhring predictably in the public interest voted for rejection; Stewart and Mayor Riggins predictably pro development voted for approval, as did the unpredictable councilperson Conrad. Though one had the impression if she was the last to cast her vote instead of the first, she would have voter for rejection.

It was that kind scattered discussion, where, as translated from the Old Testament, “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,” even when looking at the plans of a McMansion. This should concern Bond.

Whatever, the vote was a disappointment for those, myself included, who had argued that neighborhood character aside, the project violated the city’s Vision and Mission statements, and generally, in the simplest of terms, you would not like to live next door to it.

No doubt pleased with the decision are the flocks of voracious developers that have gathered, hovering like vultures over Malibu’s burnt cityscape, ever ready to snatch a parcel for a spec project, 30053 having set the standard for overdevelopment.

The gaggle that is a divided council nor the muddled Planning Department will be a challenge for the new incoming City Manager, whose experience as the former Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago no doubt will be tested, as well as her fortitude as a reported 30 year resident of Malibu.