Some Residents Want Ban on League Play at Trancas Park
BY BILL KOENEKER
Reaction to the City of Malibu Parks and Recreation Commission’s recommendation to allow league play at the proposed Trancas Canyon Park met swift and adamant opposition at this week’s Malibu City Council meeting.
“On behalf of members of our Trancas Highlands HOA, our board has voted unanimously to register our vehement opposition to that decision,” said Scott Tallal, the president of the homeowners association.
“Over the past two years, we along with our neighbors living in and around Trancas Canyon, Malibu West and Broad Beach have been repeatedly promised that the park would only have a single practice field with no scheduled games. More than just a promise, this was often stated as fact in everything from the information sheet distributed by park proponents to the comments made during the various community meetings and design workshops which many of us attended.”
Tallal was not alone in his comments.
Justine Petretti, who said she is the president of Friends of Trancas, a grass roots organization consisting of 200 people dedicated to reopening Trancas Park, accused the commission of ignoring the concerns of the residents who live near the park.
“Unlike Bluffs Park, Trancas Park is in the center of a residential area. Malibu West, Broad Beach and Malibu Park residents have attended workshops, written letters and voiced their concerns for years. It was these residents who also had the highest percentage of votes in the recent election. Their neighborhood would be adversely impacted if games are held at this park. If the park is designed according to what the public has voted on, it will be a huge asset to the entire community,” she added.
The outcry of protest caused another proponent of the park, Mona Loo, who acknowledged she has been an advocate for a dog park on the property, to ask the council to put the brakes on the recommendation because the growing opposition could jeopardize the entire project.
Loo said, “I would not like to see it derailed. I would like the council to address the Parks and Recreation Commission vote. Why did the vote change? What is the reason?”
Council members explained they could not discuss the matter in detail since it was not on the agenda, but some council members wanted the matter to come back as soon as possible.
“We can’t decide it now, but the people have a legitimate concern,” said Councilmember Andy Stern.
City Manager Jim Thorsen told council members the matter would come back to the council when they review the final design and the recommendation could be separated out for council discussion.
“I’m confused,” said Councilmember Sharon Barovsky. “I thought we approved plan B.”
Thorsen reiterated that the staff would bring back the plan, the Draft Environmental Impact Report and the Parks and Recreation Commission recommendation.
Tallal also shared comments with the council about the DEIR. “After reading though the DEIR, it’s readily apparent that this report was prepared in direct consultation with the AYSO Soccer. We have also identified at least one flaw in the DEIR, which describes Trancas Canyon Road as a 35-foot-wide, two-lane roadway. In fact the portion of Trancas Canyon Road immediately adjacent to the proposed park is a very narrow, windy mountain road, which is only 20 feet wide. Asking the sports leagues to carpool as suggested by the DEIR simply isn’t going to cut it, especially when the report goes on to state that ‘the playing area is large enough to hold four playing areas for the U-6 division. That’s why one of the alternatives suggested by the DEIR is to actually enlarge the parking area beyond 64 spaces already allocated.”
Tallal compared the ongoing struggle to what happened to Ramirez Canyon residents once the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy took over the former Barbra Streisand estate. “It may too late for Ramirez Canyon, but it’s not too late to prevent something like this from happening again,” he added.
The Trancas Highlands homeowner urged the council to ban not only league play, but also “permanently prohibit any form of amplified sound and any rental of the park for commercial or private events and large public gatherings.”
The Malibu West Homeowners Association has also weighed in on the matter. In a letter sent to the city council, Eileen Bice, the secretary of the Malibu West Homeowners Association board of directors wrote that commissioners appeared to “have a single-minded objective,” and that both Commissioners Madonna Slattery and Doug O’Brian had continued to push this item “with little or no heed to the repeated objections and outcry of the community members who have attended these meetings. At the April 17 meeting, the public’s opinion was essentially shut out.”
The HOA letter charged that some of the commissioners “are abusing their position of public trust [and] used their position to forward their personal agenda, at the expense of the community. They are derelict of their public duty and should be removed, or at least censured.”
The HOA received an e-mail from Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich, who said little during Monday’s night’s meeting, “I think what you are saying is that the city should expend over three million dollars for a small tot-lot, dog park, half court basketball and practice fields only because games would adversely affect your neighborhood. Another option would be for the city to use the funds in an alternate area that could be used for all purposes, then your neighborhood would not be affected at all by a new public park.”
In a letter sent to the editor, a board member of the Malibu Park HOA avoided the issue altogether and simply praised the proposal, insisting the park would be a huge asset to the surrounding communities as well as the entire city.