Conservancy Counters Resident Challenge with Its Own Supporters

• Public Meeting Turns Rowdy as Both Sides Harden Positions in Their Battle Over Plan

BY BILL KOENEKER

A war of words that probably will spill over into the courtroom fired back and forth this week between Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy proponents and Ramirez Canyon homeowners and other locals over a proposed parks and trails plan.

The showdown took place at a public meeting Monday night of the boards of the SMMC and its sister agency, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, at Webster Elementary School. Malibu city officials were also in attendance and voiced their objections.

There have been a series of meetings in Malibu on the access plan, but this one turned rowdy, with claims that Malibu residents object to the plan because of racial bigotry. Those remarks were met by loud boos from the locals.

SMMC and the MRCA had released last week a revised draft plan proposing to link a series of five SMMC properties and National Park Service land with a multi-use trail including expanded uses of Ramirez Canyon Park. The revisions and subsequent changes were available for public scrutiny on the state agencies’ websites.

The homeowners group known as the Ramirez Canyon Preservation Fund issued a statement before the meeting stating that the proposal, while offering “admirable goals,” lacked local oversight and ignored environmental constraints.

“The public works plan denies the City of Malibu and its residents any say as to where parks and trails should be located. It also proposes paving over a meadow for a parking lot in Escondido Canyon, allows excessive vehicle traffic on Winding Way threatening the safety of equestrians and hikers, permits loud commercial and fundraising events in Ramirez Canyon at the end of a narrow and hazardous box canyon; and allows overnight camping in the hills above Malibu that will create a significant fire hazard from careless campers endangering many of our neighborhoods,” the HOA letter states.

However, it was some speakers at the meeting, who insisted it was their skin color that Malibu residents really objected to.

But Steven Amerikaner, an attorney representing the homeowners group, alleges he was subsequently told by some of the speakers that they had been paid to come to the Malibu meeting.

When the SMMC and MRCA issued a press release last week about the availability of the revised plan, the agencies’ head explained why they were moving forward with the plan.

“Public access to public parkland is a fundamental right in California,” said Joe Edmiston, the executive director of the SMMC. “The coastal canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu contain some of Southern California’s most lush and beautiful landscapes of the highest ecological quality.”

However, homeowners counter the latest version of the access plan is “deeply flawed” and that it is imperative for Malibu residents to make their objections known before the plan goes to the California Coastal Commission for approval.

Malibu city council members showed up in force with Mayor Ken Kearsley and Councilmembers Pamela Conley Ulich and Andy Stern speaking. The mayor insisted the SMMC and MRCA should undertake an Environmental Impact Report before submission to the coastal agency.

Edmiston shot back that the city did not do an EIR when it submitted its Local Coastal Program. Previously, one resident had urged the council to attend, saying the last meeting in Malibu was packed with outside interests and groups that had to be counterbalanced.

“Joe is throwing his weight around. It is time for the city to throw its weight around,” said Winding Way resident Larry Grey, who is on the city’s trail committee and added he is in favor of trails, but questions the campsites as needlessly dangerous.

Many other residents talked about the fire safety issue and said they refused to believe that enforcement would prevent careless campers from breaking the rules and having a campfire and posing a danger to themselves and others.

Conservancy officials counter that exhaustive research has produced a plan that balances the need for protection of the natural resources in the area, the concerns of private residents and the need to promote access opportunities.

“Some of the best minds in civil engineering, planning, park design and accessibility have worked together to form a plan that will connect the parks and improve public access with minimal impact,” added Edmiston.

SMMC officials indicated when the plan is submitted to the Coastal Commission, which can certify the proposal as a public works plan, the plan will include detailed technical analysis of its various components, including geology, mapping, grading, traffic engineering and accessibility.

Some observers indicate they believe the series of public meetings, the press releases and posturing by SMMC officials and homeowners is simply a prelude to the entire issue ending up in the courtroom.