High School Palm Trees to Be Removed from Campus

• Critics Cite View Impacts, Hazards

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

The mystery of the Malibu Park palm plantation has been revealed, and steps are being taken to address neighbors’ concerns. The 75 tropical queen palms were planted on the bare hillside between the high school athletic field and the parking area and playing courts over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The Malibu Surfside News offices were flooded with contacts from concerned neighbors on the Monday following the holiday, but no answers were available, and the school did not return calls.
Residents were still angry and seeking answers about the palm planting at Monday night’s Measure BB improvement plan information meeting.
“You talk about native plants, and you plant nearly a hundred palms,” one resident complained.
“I’m a little disappointed about the palm tree thing,” community activist and Malibu Park resident Marshall Thompson said. “It caught people by surprise. It’s insensitive to plant non-natives that grow to 50 feet. Views are huge. The city is right now drafting a view ordinance. We need an equitable solution.”
The solution was at hand.
“We are responsible for your trees,” said Jill Berliner, stepping forward to face the firing squad with Mary Hughes-O’Leary and Gigi Goyette. “The school district didn’t do it. We did it.”
The trio of volunteers have been responsible for school landscaping projects that include the senior quad, the amphitheater and the entrance to the middle school. Funding for the projects is raised by donations from parents, PTA, the Shark Fund and donations from each year’s graduating class.
In the past, the volunteer group has used the pro bono services of landscape architect and Malibu Park homeowner Jay Griffith, and the focus has been on native, low-maintenance and drought resistant plants. Griffith was not available to be consulted on the recent palm plant- ing, which critics complain will require extensive maintenance to prevent the trees from becoming a fire hazard.
“These same palms are under consideration to be banned,” stated Cindy Vandor, a longtime Malibu resident who has been working to establish fire safety plans for nearby Malibu West. She described how the queen palm is now being listed as a fire risk in other parts of California.
Griffith was present at the meeting, and spoke up in defense of the volunteers. “It’s very hard to do good deeds,” he said. “Like they say, they never go unpunished.”
“We certainly didn’t want to offend anybody,” Berliner said. “Everything is community based, what we do.”
“If something needs to be changed, we can do it,” Griffith assured the audience. “It’s just plants and dirt.”
After the meeting ended, Griffith told residents that he would walk the newly landscaped area and arrange to swap out the offending palms with native plants and trees. “This will happen,” he said.
He also assured the neighbors that the replacement landscaping would be sensitive to view impacts. Griffith is also a Malibu Park resident, and reminded his neighbors that he owns multiple homes in the area. “I am personally impacted more than anyone else,” he said.