City View Protection Task Force Minority Issues Its Own Report

• Fundamental Differences Specifically Outlined

BY BILL KOENEKER

Malibu city officials recently received the minority report prepared by several members of the retired View Preservation Task Force who were vociferous critics of the majority’s stance.
The minority report has a dire warning for the members of the community who voted in a previous election on whether the city should study and enact a view preservation ordinance.
“Unfortunately, if the draft ordinance proposed by the majority of the members of the task force is implemented, it could potentially change the nature of our community, converting it from a place of rustic beauty with diverse neighborhoods to the manicured look and feel of a managed community. The majority document ignores the obligations of the Malibu General Plan to protect only against ‘unreasonable loss of views.’ And substitutes protection and restoration of any view. This is a serious change in the law, which could completely alter the community balance, which has made the unique and peaceful community it is today,” the report states.
The minority report offers a summary of recommendations and discusses issues that minority members insist require further study.
The report also critiques the majority document line by line and makes further recommendations based on that line by line analysis,
One of the recommendations in the 20-page report is what set the minority members apart from the majority from the get-go.
The minority view is that the ordinance should create a “private action” between homeowners, and the city would have no decision-making or enforcement authority.
One of other recommendations is that any proposed ordinance put in place should balance the value of trees and foliage with the value of views and adequately compensate the foliage owner for loss of trees and other foliage.
The report concludes that the task force was not able to fully determine the environmental impact of a citywide view ordinance that could create unanticipated encumbrances.
The minority report charges that the actual costs of the majority recomendations were never determined and the impact on privacy, security and aesthetics of a citywide law were never fully studied, among other issues.