Conservancy Plans for LCP Override to Be Aired July 14

• Overnight Camping in Three Areas Is Key to Package

BY BILL KOENEKER

To the apparent chagrin and surprise of Malibu city of­ficials, the executive di­rec­­tor of the Cal­ifornia Coastal Com­mission has determined that the controversial plan of the San­­ta Monica Moun­tains Con­ser­vancy that in­cludes overnight camping can be treated as a Lo­cal Coastal Pro­gram amendment override.
The Malibu City Council has scheduled a public hearing on Monday, July 14, on the matter.
City planners had submitted an LCP amendment to the commission that did not include overnight camping and other changes that were bitterly opposed by SMMC head Joe Edmiston, who had threatened to proceed with an override.
The city’s position is that because SMMC and the Moun­tains Re­creation Conser­vation Auth­ority invoked the LCP override provision, it allows the Coas­tal Com­mission to consider whe­th­er to amend the city’s LCP “outside the usual procedures and ap­prove the ‘Malibu Parks Pub­lic Access Enhancement Plan Ov­erlay District’ proposed by the SMMC and MRCA.”
That plan calls for overnight campsite facilities within park boundaries at Ramirez Canyon Park, Escondido Canyon Park and Corral Canyon Park, a comprehensive program for acquiring and improving the Coastal Slope Trail and extensive uses at Ramirez Canyon Park at the SMMC’s headquarters.
City Attorney Christi Hogin has indicated that according to the com­mission’s regulations, the city may make its own determination whether the LCP override provisions apply and wheth­er to amend the LCP to approve the proposal or otherwise make recommendations to the com­mis­sion on the proposal. She has indicated that is the purpose of the city council meeting.
The overnight camping provisions, a former compromise that included overnight camping at Charmlee Park brokered by municipal officials, inflamed the public, who subsequently de­mand­ed in packed council chambers that council members drop any references, policies or provisions to overnight camping and battle it out with the SMMC and CCC over the issue.
The council reluctantly did so with some council members predicting the battle was just beginning rather than ending.