La Paz Project in Civic Center Area Appears Closer to Final Approval

• City Assessment of CCC Modifications of LCPA Next

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council is scheduled at its regular meeting on Monday, April 12, to consider the California Coastal Commission’s modifications to the permits and entitlements for the La Paz commercial office center planned for the Civic Center.
The development agreement, zone changes and other conditions for approving the 100,000- plus-square-foot commercial center have to be approved by the city council and certified by the coastal panel.
The changes sought by the city and the applicant are contained in a Local Coastal Program Amendment.
On March 10, the commission approved modifications to the LCPA, which the city must consider and accept in order to obtain a final decision on La Paz.
The city sought to change the land use and zoning designation of two parcels from Community Commercial to a new proposed designation of Town Center Overlay, or TCO.
The commission, instead, offered modifications to the city’s LCPA, saying it wanted the city to delete its request to remove the CC land use designation from the two parcels to use the new TCO designation and also amend Part C to add specific site regulations and add Part D, the development agreement to another section and show the boundaries of the TCO on a map.
Commission policy states that after the city council acknowledges receipt of the commission resolution of certification, including terms and modifications and agrees to issue the coastal permits, then the council shall accept and agree to any of the commission’s modifications.
After the council takes formal action on the modifications, the matter goes again before the Coastal Commission to review the city’s actions and make a determination whether or not to certify the LCPA.