• Student Drop-Off and Pick-Up, as Well as Lack of Fire Equipment Turnaround Are Issues
BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN
As plans for Malibu High School’s Measure BB improvement projects move forward, school traffic safety and permanent field lighting remain major issues in the community. Traffic was on the agenda of three recent meetings. A fourth meeting is scheduled for Dec. 15.
Last week, the Safety Commission tackled the issue of traffic safety at the Malibu Park area schools. Many Malibu Park residents expressed concern over what they see as steadily worsening conditions in front of the school during peak hours.
During public comment, residents and representatives of the newly formed Malibu Park Safety Coalition presented the commission with an issue statement and list of suggested solutions.
The group, represented by Steve Scheinkman, who lives across the street from the school, and another Malibu Park resident, Marshall Thompson, described the current situation in the neighborhood as a complicated mix of problems ranging from gridlock that impedes emergency access and blocks residents’ driveways to the lack of a safe place for students to enter and exit the school.
According to the group, illegal parking, U-turns and loitering are a major part of the problem.
“Kids [paking illegally] would rather just pay a ticket, if there is a ticket—it’s hard to enforce,” Scheinkman told the commission. “[We] want safe orderly flow, safe access, no loitering,[and want it to be] enforceable.”
Scheinkman recommended the city eliminate all parking on the school side of Morning View. “Kids, parents, park there. people just stop,” he said. A more drastic measure would eliminate parking on both sides of the narrow street, as well as establish a no-parking zone on Merritt Street.
Scheinkman discussed the Measure BB improvement plans, and expressed dismay that they do not include plans for an campus ring road.
Former commission member Ryan Embree also recommended that pick-up and drop-off take place on the school property. He gave the example of A.E. Wright School in Calabasas, which built an on-campus solution for traffic that had previously caused problems by blocking Las Virgenes Road.
Bow Bowman, the city’s special projects manager said “We’ve gone to many of these meetings, we’re working with them, giving them our input. They need to learn how to follow traffic rules. Right now, this is a wonderful opportunity.”
“More kids—high schoolers—drive,” said commission chair Carol Randall. “There’s a lot of illegal parking. The buildings fit a different plan.”
“If there was ever a public safety issue, this is it,” Commissioner Marlene Matlow stated. “Can’t there be some pressure placed on [the district] by the city? Give them an ultimatum on time. Can the city do this?”
“We’ve discussed this many times,” Public Works Superintendent Richard Calvin replied. “The residents’ concerns are valid. The schools’ concerns are valid. We can only recommend. The city only has a certain amount of control. We can ask, beg, cajole, but we can’t command.”
“PBS&J [the consultant firm hired by the district to oversee the Measure MM improvements] has done outreach, a scoping session. I believe they’re doing their best. Now the new parking is going to be for the kids,” Calvin said.
“We finally got the school district paying a little more attention. I think they’re doing their best to come up with a solution.”
The community had an opportunity last Thursday to hear about those solutions directly from the consultanting firm, when PBS&J presented their traffic study findings and suggestions at a workshop at the school.
The firm’s traffic planner, Gary Carlin, presented eight ideas, many of which had been canvassed at the public safety meeting the night before. “Let us know feedback and nonstarters,” Carlin asked the group of school and district officials and residents, before presenting the series.
The first proposal, a plan that would involve a new traffic light at PCH and Guernsey Avenue, was shot down immediately. Malibu Park resident Hans Laetz stated that he had participated in an earlier traffic study and had been informed by Caltrans that the intersection did not meet its standards. “It would require a taking of 18-36 feet,” Laetz said, adding that the realignment would involve cutting into the bluffs and extensive grading.
“There aren’t the warrants to do it,” Carol Randall, added.
“I wasn’t aware of previous efforts, the consultant said. “Your points are probably valid, to be honest with you. There are exceptions to the warrants.”
“There are,” Randall said. “You’ll have to stand in line.”
The second proposal, a roundabout at Morning View Drive and Via Cabrillo, also raised concerns. On being told that the area was an ESHA, an environmentally sensitive habitat area, Carlin confessed, “I’m not an environmental person.”
The third idea, construction of a new drop-off and pickup zone along the north side of Morning View Drive was better received. Marshall Thompson, who had mentioned a similar plan at the Public Safety Commission meeting, compared it to the white curb at the airport.
Item four recommended designating the Measure BB funded new parking as a student lot. The lot, which will contain 110 new spaces is currently designated as overflow, faculty or event parking.
“We actually haven’t done an occupancy study,” Carlin said. “But we want to be responsive to the environment and the community.”
The fifth proposal, banning parking on Morning View Drive in the vicinity of the school and eliminating three-point turns, was generally well received, although enforcement was an issue.
“What makes it worse is the narrowness of the street,” Thompson said.
“It was built as one school,” Randall said. “The infrastructure didn’t follow, it didn’t grow with them.”
“We are working within those bounds,” acknowledged the consultant.
Item six proposed making Morning View Drive one way only during peak hours, with traffic entering at Guernsey. Enforcement was the main objection.
“That route is already saturated,” Laetz complained, adding that the stop sign at the intersection of Morning View Drive already backs traffic onto PCH.
“There are warrants for stop signs.” Carlin suggested.
“They’re worse,” replied Randall. “There’s more liability with stop signs.”
Item seven proposed a Zuma park and ride, with a shuttle bus to transport students. Setbacks included obtaining permission from the county, operating a shuttle and getting students to use the system and how to prevent students from parking on PCH.
The eighth and final suggestion was adding a new northbound right turn lane from Merritt Drive to the school.
Asked “can it be done?” the consultant replied that they have been assured that the city has enough right-of-way to incorporate the turn lane.
FIELD LIGHTING
There was somewhat less optimism that a livable solution to the permanent field lighting issue can be found. Residents continue to express anger and concern.
“In 1994 the school was in violation of the California Coastal Commission with building and grading the the ball field,” Malibu Park resident Judi Hutchinson said, stating that the school has not honored its promises. In 1999 [we were told there would be] no temporary or permanent lights. For three years they’ve had lights. You’re a rogue elephant in the room.”
“I think that we do want to work with the community, “ Kelly replied. “It’s about meeting current needs.”
“Please put in the details,” Scheinkman asked. “We don’t know, are the neighbors going to be looking at lights five nights a year, [or] every night?”
“We are holding these outreach meetings to get community input,” Kelly said. “The 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends [hours suggested in the project plans for community activities at the school] makes me nervous, too. I’m sensitive to that. I’m the one that gets called when a fire alarm goes off. We want something that’s reasonable, not outrageous.”
“The lighting issue is daunted,” Thompson said. “Yes, we have to have our sports field, but you’ve made promises in the past. Promises should be carefully crafted and taken seriously. The neighbors are justifiably concerned. It destroys the night. It’s a blaring loudness. It bathes the sky and looks like L.A. is marching to the city. People who are pro dark skies are not anti-kid.”
This is a great opportunity to have night games. I’m heartened to see a spirit of cooperation,” said Steven O’Neill, the president of the MHS Booster Club, who hopes that the lighting project will encourage nighttime lacrosse and soccer games at the school.
“I agree to usage restrictions, I of course understand the night sky issue, but we live in a community.” He described how the newly remodeled Point Dume shopping center has impacted the night sky in his neighborhood, but called it a “fair tradeoff” to have a market his family can walk to. “We can walk there and get a donut,” he said, enthusiastically.
Malibu Park resident Bob Hutchinson, whose home borders the athletic field, was less optimistic. “I was lucky. On Monday I was able to watch the moon and two stars make a perfect triangle in the sky, a conjunction. That was a once in a lifetime event. I’m concerned with lighting. It was 11 nights last year, not the five they promised. They don’t tell us how many. It could be 15 nights. That doesn’t work for me.”
Community activist Dusty Peak concurred. “You play by the rules. If you sign something, you stick to it.”
“This is not a NIMBY,” stated Jay Griffith, who owns numerous homes in the area and has provided landscaping consulting services to the school pro bono. “Are there lights going in that violate the original argument? We don’t want it to be egregious, obnoxious— and a lot of the things that have gone on here have been obnoxious.”
Andrea Cabalo, the spokesperson for HMC, the project’s architectural firm, invited concerned residents to attend a field lighting meeting on Jan. 14. That meeting, she said, will provide information on exactly what type of lights are being proposed.
“The district is very sensitive,” she said, explaining that biological consultants and a professional sports lighting expert have been hired. “All that will be prepared for you.”
