What began as possible one of the worst traffic gridlock conditions on PCH this town has ever seen during Spring Break, has turned into a controversy uncovering the questionable ethics practiced at City Hall, supporting the rumors of back door deals and preferential treatment to special interests.
Residents flooded my inbox with inquiries as to what was causing the gridlock in the morning hours of March 8th and as I immediately inquired with CalTrans as to who approved and was responsible for these projects. What we then learned this particular project was one of five total, most of them run by private developers, and all schedules were approved by Malibu City Manager Reva Feldman.
Yet none – that’s right NONE – passed through the proper vetting and/or Malibu City protocol not to mention completely circumventing the residents right to due process.
Upon further examination by Planning Commissioner Steve Uhring, he discovered even more jaw dropping, if not all out negligence by the City prompting him to address the Planning Commission in April and now issue this letter to inform to the Community:
Dear Cece,
I was intrigued at how quickly the new crosswalk being built just east of the Malibu Pier got approved, so I asked the City to explain its involvement in this project. In response, City Management told me:
- The City does not have a policy to review these PCH projects, so the City had no involvement.
- This is a California Coastal Commission project and there was nothing the City could do.
- The project was controlled by Caltrans, so it was out of the City’s hands..
After a few phone calls it became clear the above answers were not accurate and in fact the City was an integral party to getting this crosswalk approved.
A call with the Coastal Commission confirmed the Commission’s policy to coordinate with the City of Malibu on Commission’s enforcement actions, to insure the proposed action is mutually agreeable. The Coastal Commission gave Malibu the option of not agreeing with the crosswalk or delaying approval until the project had been vetted through the standard Malibu approval processes. Instead City leadership stepped aside, and approved the crosswalk.
A phone call with Caltrans tells a similar story. An engineering report submitted to Caltrans suggested that a yet to be approved offsite parking plan was a fait accompli and used an unproven analysis of valet traffic to justify the crosswalk. According to the Caltrans Transportation Office Chief the city was consulted on the crosswalk and knew about the bogus engineering report. City leadership ignored the facts and gave the project its blessing.
A December 18th Planning Commission Staff report warned that constructing the crosswalk without the City’s review and oversight would allow the project to avoid the need to get a required city variance. And that is exactly what happened.
Everyone I have discussed this with asks the same question …Why? Why would the city provide this crosswalk preferential treatment, subverting the required Malibu review and approval processes?
I’ve asked, but people in City Hall no longer talk to me. So if you manage to get an answer, please let me know.
Steve Uhring
Follow Us