Coastal Panel Nixes City Camping Signs

• Urges Changes to Match City Law

BY ANNE SOBLE

The California Coastal Commission agrees with a public interest activist group’s complaints that “No Camping” signs posted at Malibu city limits could lead to confusion.
The Center for Law in the Public Interest’s City Project has challenged the signs as an example of Malibu elitism and an intent to prevent visitors from being aware of local camping options.
The City Project blog generated widespread media attention at the same time that the city was locked in debate with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy over expanding public camping options in the Santa Monica Mountains, and Malibu took a public drubbing on the Internet.
CCC Deputy Director Jack Ainsworth addressed the signs issue in a letter to City Manager Jim Thorsen recently. Ainsworth wrote that “the signs, as currently written, are inconsistent with the city’s ordinances, LCP, and the Coastal Act.”
He states that “an outright prohibition of overnight camping, as currently stated on the signs, would require an amendment to the city’s LCP” and suggests that the wording could be changed to “Overnight Camping Allowed Only within Designated Campgrounds.”
Ainsworth’s letter concludes, “By changing the sign language and posting new signs, the city would avoid further confusion, defuse the current controversy, and bring the signs into compliance with current city ordinances, the certified LCP and the Coastal Act.”