City Official Says Action Taken Against Party Beach House

• Resident Complaints to Receive Prompt Attention and Unpermitted Activities Will Be Curbed

BY BILL KOENEKER

A Malibu city official said last week that code enforcement action has been taken, based on a complaint, on one of the beach party houses and at the same time issued a warning that the practice will not be tolerated in the future without the necessary permits.

“We will take swift action,” said Gail Sumpter, who is the city’s permit services supervisor and oversees code enforcement.

Some Malibu Road neighbors filed an enforcement complaint recently with the city about the beach party activities that feature celebrities such as at the so-called Polaroid Beach house.

The residences are used by public relations firms as a marketing device for product placement and to familiarize the young elite with various new products.

Millions of dollars of free publicity is generated as hordes of celebrity watchers view the well-known partygoers’ images as they are flashed around the globe.

One of the neighbors, who did not wish to be identified, said their privacy and quiet had been shattered since the parties began at the end of June.

Sumpter, who declined to reveal which party house was involved in the enforcement action, confirmed she had received a complaint about one of the homes.

“As a result of the complaint I have contacted the owner and as a result of that, through their attorney, has agreed to cease the commercial activities,” said Sumpter, who said she was aware that there were two other party beach houses, but she had not received any complaints about those.

The code enforcement supervisor explained how the city handles these matters. “Currently, the city council policy requires that I not take any enforcement action without a written complaint.”

Sumpter said the other difficult aspect about enforcement with party beach houses is the transitory nature of the activity.

“By the time people notice something is happening, if it gets to me, we are well into the summer. Some of these people [at the beach party houses] think they can prolong the enforcement process,” she added.

The city spokesperson had a warning for the operators of future party houses. “I plan to be more proactive next summer. We are not going to tolerate this,” she said.

Sumpter said the activities are clearly commercial in nature and require a permit. None of the party house operators have applied for or received permits.

“The municipal code is clear that a commercial use needs a permit. These are definitely commercial. They need a Temporary Use Permit and there are constraints,” added the code enforcement manager, who said a property owner can obtain no more that four TUPs per year, among other rules.

A neighbor of the Polaroid house said there had been anywhere from 15 to 18 parties in the last month and half. “It is so frustrating and an invasion of our privacy,” she added.

She believes the commotion caused by such activities could reduce property values and also make it more difficult to sell real estate in the area.

At least three party houses and their bevy of young celebrities have been splashed on the Internet and various blogs and other publications during the past summer. Another house, known as the LG House Malibu, is rented out to an electronics firm, which invites the casts of various television productions to host parties. The residence is stocked with six 71-inch plasma HDTVs and other electronics for partygoers to use and become familiar with.

Another highly publicized residence is the so-called Silver Spoon Beach Body house where most recently a well-attended celebrity baby shower was held.

The promotional tool has been used to varying degrees of success over the past years, but seemed to take off last year when Polaroid set up its party house on Carbon Beach and generated a payout in what marketers call branding or brand recognition that comes along with the publicity generated by a celebrity-laden event.