Five More Meetings Planned on Controversial MHS Expansion

• Malibu Park Residents Voice Concerns about Impacts

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

In response to growing alarm from Malibu residents about the Measure BB funded Malibu High School expansion and improvement plans, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board voted to approved a total of five additional public meetings about the project at its Oct. 2 meeting in Malibu.
“What we felt was needed was more public outreach, more opportunity for the community to give their input,” said assistant superintendent Jan Maez, acknowledging that there had been a disconnect between the district and residents.
Maez stated that there will now be three meetings held before the draft EIR is completed, and two after. The first scoping session occurred last week, and was criticized by Malibu residents who complained that they did not receive sufficient advance notice and that they are being excluded from the process.
Judi Hutchinson, a longtime Malibu Park resident who was representing a group of Malibu Park neighbors, spoke out about her concerns with the project.
“I am here to say please slow down,” Hutchinson said. “[This is] an ambitious expansion plan that we feel doesn’t belong in our area,” she said, stressing the rural character of the Malibu Park area.
“When the neighbors learned about this they had many concerns,” Hutchinson told the board. “I have three pages of petitions here, signed by neighbors. They’re upset about noise, the lights on the ball field, the lights at night—we’re a bedroom community,” Hutchinson said. “The neighbors who live on Morning View describe the traffic as ‘gridlock.’” Hutchinson explained that the traffic situation is so severe that “parents, come up the back way and drop the kids off where I live [behind the school]. It’s that hard to get to the school. I’m glad that you are having more meetings. Will you keep us informed?”
Tom Griskey, another longtime Malibu park resident, also expressed concern. “It seems you should be investing in people not buildings.” Griskey said, adding that he wished the money could be invested in teachers, instead of in a project that will “ruin the view of the ocean, going to increase lights, sounds, and air pollution in the neighborhood.
I would recommend that you read the letters in the Malibu Surf\side News that came out this week,” Griskey said. “A number of the people in the neighborhood wrote letters expressing their opinions. It would be worthwhile to incorporate some of the comments, some of the thinking, of the neighbors. That school is our neighbor. It would be much more appropriate to have gardens in this neighborhood than something that looks like the prow of a boat.”
The board clarified that the project, which is funded by Measure BB, “can only be used for facilities and improvement.”
“I know we just approved $77,000 for outreach,” boardmember Barry Snell said. He recommended that at least one of the five meetings the board had just authorized be facilitated by the Malibu Park HOA. He requested that the board “not miss important voices.” Snell also asked asked the board if there was a way “to reach people who do not have children in the school district.”
“All of us have emails,” said boardmember Maria Leon-Vasquez.
“I emailed two weeks ago,” Hutchinson replied. “I only heard about it [the previous meeting] Two people who read it in the paper called me. I immediately emailed you and asked to slow down with the biological study, I didn’t see why we should put the money out without having input from the neighborhood. That was when I first found out about this whole thing. When I went to the EIR meeting I though that was only about lights on the ball field. I didn’t know anything about getting this far.”
Board president Oscar de la Torres interrupted the discussion at that point, saying that dialogue could not continue since the matter was not on the agenda He suggested that the issue be placed on the discussion agenda for the next meeting.
“I was at the [scoping] meeting [last week] said boardmember Kathy Wisnicki. “It was just the initial phase. The meeting was actually called a meeting of preparation. It really is the beginning of a very long process of completing an EIR review. For this particular project, because of some of the issues that have been brought up this evening and others that might exist, it’s been determined that the full process would be concluded.”
“As soon as possible, publish what the schedule might be,” Snell recommended.
“We need to somehow make a connection with the Malibu Park Homeowners Association, De la Torres concluded. “I think you can work with staff and the BB planning committee,” he told the residents. “The architects could come out and take you through what the entire plan is so you’ll understand all the aspects. We’ve just started the process, There will be more information.”
De la Torre recommended that residents can contact Jan Maez. “ [She] can give you direction on how to get involved so we don’t leave anyone out of the loop.”
According to Maez, there are now two forms available on the district Web site: a comment form, and an application to register to be notified of future meetings. “We really do want and value your comments,” Maez said.
The plans for the project, as well as both forms mentioned above, can be accessed at http://www.smmusd.org/. The forms are only in pdf form and must be printed and returned by post. The deadline for comments is Oct. 27. Maez can be contacted at: jan.maez@smmusd.org