Owl Issues Continue to Plague Malibu High School Plans

• District Approves More Funding to Study Possible Environmental Impacts on the Vicinity

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Malibu Park’s owls were on the agenda again at the Feb. 19 Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board meeting.
The item, which was described in the agenda as “Contract Amendment #4 is to provide for wintering burrowing owls and raptor foraging surveys in support of the athletic field project” caused some confusion.
“About the owls,” board member Ben Allen asked. “My understanding was there was a study already done. Is there additional work that needed to be done?”
“This is a request to increase a contract for additional biological study in the Malibu Park area because of some changes we’re making to the project in terms of the parking lot configuration, so they had to expand the scope of the original study,” Jan Maez, assistant superintendent and chief financial officer, told the board.
“If you recall some of those changes to the parking lot configuration have to do with resolving some of the traffic and parking issues on campus,” Maez said. “This is just to make sure that with the change that there wasn’t any impact on the wildlife.”
Satisfied with the clarification, the board passed the recommendation to approve Amendment #4 with Glenn Lukos Associates “to provide additional biological support services for wintering burrowing owls for the athletic field lighting project, for the Measure “BB” program, in the amount of $5050, for a total contract amount of $48,100.”
The proposed parking lot, which could potentially contain 250 parking stalls, would be located on the ridgeline above the athletic field.
Residents, who are charging that the new parking lot would have a negative effect on the neighboring ESHA, as well as block the existing horse easement also claim there have been sightings in the past of the burrowing owl that is the primary subject of the biological study. The small owl, with its distinctive yellow eyes, hunts during the day.
Residents have charged that the district’s consultants have not adequately addressed the issue of sensitive or threatened animal populations on the school’s 35-acre property that incorporates two mapped Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas, and a substantial area of California coastal sage scrub habitat.
School neighbors state that the school property is also the home or foraging ground of a variety of raptors, including peregrine falcons, which nest adjacent to the school; kites; hawks; kestrels; and several species of owls.
The Malibu Surfside News, on a recent visit to the school property, observed evidence of one raptor roost and documented a California Species of Special Concern that is not a raptor; the chaparral thrasher, a bird whose song has been compared to that of the old world nightingale.
Several proponents of the parking plan have contended that the urgent need for safe parking at the campus should outweigh environmental concerns.
District Superintendent Tim Cuneo, in an open letter to the community, has scheduled a public workshop to address the MHS field lighting issue, which he called “contentious and divisive,” for March 2. The issue is expected to be addressed at the March 5 board of education meeting in Malibu as well.
Information on the planned Measure BB improvements at MHS is available at the district’s Web site: smmusd.org.