MOU with Conservancy Includes Charmlee Camping

BY BILL KOENEKER

There was an uproar when Malibu city officials said they intended to pursue a memo of understanding with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy over the state agency’s plans to pursue a permit for its parks and trails plan.

However, it appears the MOU is now in place and both parties are proceeding with the terms of the agreement. “I can’t speak for the city, but we adopted the memo of understanding months ago,” said the SMMC’s executive director, Joe Edmiston.

The memo is described as an attempt to avoid protracted litigation between the two government entities. The city accused the SMMC of trying to make an end-run around its authority as the coastal permitting agency and each side threatened to litigate the matter.

Then, with much hoopla, the city announced that the parties found common ground and would reach an accord in a MOU.

However, no public announcement was made by municipal officials about the memo. Calls to City Attorney Christi Hogin were not returned and the matter did not come up at any of the city council sessions.

But the city and SMMC have apparently been cooperating.

The Conservancy last week submitted its coastal permit application, called a Local Coastal Permit Amendment, to the city for its parks and trails plan.

At the same time, the city submitted, and the SMMC approved, a $100,000 grant to be used for a Charmlee Park nature center. Edmiston emphasized the grant is not related to the MOU. “That is separate and apart,” he said.

The matter is somewhat sensitive for Charmlee neighbors, who were the most vociferous in opposing the MOU since it contained a compromise that would allow overnight camping in the city-owned wilderness park.

Edmiston acknowledged it was the city’s bargaining chip of Charmlee for overnight camping that helped clinch the deal for the MOU. “The offer of camping at Charmlee rather than Escondido, putting that on the table, that opened the way.”

The 537-acre park was acquired by the city from Los Angeles County in 1999. A former county maintenance building currently houses what is called a “makeshift nature center,” according to a municipal staff report.

The city tried in 2001 to obtain funding for the center, but did not make the cut in the competitive grant-funding world.

The proposed design might include a small ampitheater, additional restrooms, permanent caretakers’ quarters, classrooms, a meeting room for city staff and docent offices, and space for live and preserved animal displays.

The staff has indicated the city already has a proposal from Nature of Wildworks to house their menagerie of native live birds and animals there. The animals are used in environmental education programs at Charmlee.

Additionally, the proposed nature center museum could provide space for artifacts that have been found at various sites in Malibu and are currently being temporarily held on loan in other cities, according to the city staff report.

Meanwhile, the Conservancy’s permit application for its parks and trails plan, besides overnight camping in Charmlee, includes overnight facilities in Corral Canyon, an additional parking lot in Escondido and overnight camping and other activities in Ramirez Canyon.

Edmiston said he does not know when the application will be heard, but said he believes the city will make it a priority. “It is not a matter of six months, but two or three months,” he added.

Ramirez Canyon homeowners have been in litigation with the SMMC for years over the expanded activities at its headquarters, which is at the former five-home estate of Barbra Streisand.

They have vowed to continue seeking relief in the courtroom. Edmiston was asked if the pending permit would fan the flames of litigation, answering, “I would not want to speculate.”