Some Residents Want Ban on League Play at
Trancas Park
• Unrestricted Use of Sports Fields
Rallies Homeowners Who Say They Were Ignored
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 totlot, 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.
