Trancas Developer Back with Revised Proposal for Condos and Open Space

• Wants to Use LCPA instead of Development Agreement

BY BILL KOENEKER

Proponents of a proposal that would include carving out an open space buffer in an area where condominiums would be built along Trancas Canyon Road are marshalling forces for a new approach at City Hall.
The planning commission at its first meeting in January is expected to consider a Local Coastal Program Amendment to change the zoning on the vacant 35-acre site to designate 7.61 acres of the property as multifamily and the remaining 27.58 acres as open space. The staff is recommending approval of the LCPA, which also requires the approval of the city council and the California Coastal Commission.
The proposal at one time was part of a development agreement between the city and the developer to build the condos in exchange for the open space as ball fields. The property is located on the west side of Trancas Canyon Road 250 feet north of Pacific Coast Highway. The deal came unraveled in complicated litigation brought against the city by Broad Beach homeowners.
Although this is a zoning hearing, the developer and proponents are meeting the day before to talk about not just the status of the LCPA zoning, but how the project would ultimately entail a sewage treatment plant including offsite hookups. The informal meeting will feature a presentation by a design team who will talk about groundwater, the treatment plant and proposed offsite connections.
The planning staff is considering the open space in terms of preserving native vegetation and reducing the amount of fuel modification if the entire parcel were developed.
That plan might lose the support of organized sports enthusiasts, but could possibly win over Malibu West homeowners, who are already grappling with a sports park in their neighborhood and might welcome undisturbed acreage in exchange for the condos.
A potential problem, according to the city biologist, is that the proposed multi-family district is located about 100 feet from the drainage course center line, and that any future structures requiring the standard 200-foot fuel modification buffer, whether under the current or proposed zoning, would require at least a 300-foot setback from the nearest top of bank of the onsite drainage course in order to prevent encroachment of fuel modification into the 100-foot stream Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area buffer.