Council Set to Consider Controversial Trancas Park Revisions

• Still to Be Outlined Changes Sought by Citizens Group Could Cost City Over $250,000

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Trancas Park revisions—estimated to cost over a quarter-million dollars—agreed to by a select handful of proponents at an invitation-only meeting two weeks ago at City Hall are slated to go before the Malibu City Council next week.
Dubbed the Trancas Canyon Park Plan Modifications and placed on the agenda by Councilmember Sharon Barovsky, the requested action is to see if there is a majority vote to direct staff to make grading and retaining wall changes to the Trancas Park plans and bring back those changes to the council for “a substantial site plan conformity review.”
This will be the first time the rest of the council and the public at large will have a chance to hear and comment on the modifications described by the attendees as a settlement or compromise.
“The cost to have the changes prepared by the design engineer will be less than $2000. The cost of the site plan changes could increase the cost of the project by approximately $250,000,” wrote City Manager Jim Thorsen, in a memo to the council.
The city manager said the staff prepared sketches that showed alternatives that would minimize the ridge grading. “In order to accomplish those changes, the proposed dog park would need to be reduced in size by approximately 10,000 square feet. In addition, retaining walls would need to be incorporated into the design. The majority of the neighborhood residents at the meeting supported the changes. Staff believes that these minor changes are still in conformity with the approved plan,” added Thorsen.
The city administrator said he did not have numbers yet for the total amount of grading, but that it would change because the original plans called for a balanced site, the same amount of cut and fill. Now there would be more fill required, which is what adds to the cost, according to Thorsen, who said the agenda item is a means to formalize the procedure.
Barovsky, who was the sole council member to meet with citizens at the gathering on March 26, put the matter on the agenda, hoping the majority will agree to recommend city staff complete the grading plan changes and have them brought back to the council on May 11 for a substantial conformity site plan review.
Councilmembers Pamela Conley Ulich and Jefferson Wagner dissented when the original park plan was approved.
When City Attorney Christi Hogin was asked about the process that got the proposed park revisions where they are today, she acknowledged the process is different from what most observers witness after a final approval of measure or resolution by the council, but indicated that this time things are different because the city is both the applicant and the decision-maker.
Hogin indicated it is the city manager’s purview to direct consultants or staff to make revisions that will come before the council.
The city attorney said it is not unusual for council members to meet with citizens about issues, even after a city council vote. Hogin said she was on vacation and did not know the details of the meeting that was controversial because no park opponents or dissenting council members were invited to the City Hall session.
Lynn Norton, who sought the meeting with Barovsky and others, has sent out an update stating that, despite some park proponents statements to the contrary, nothing legally changed at the March 26 meeting.
“Nothing was legislated in this meeting. This was not a back room deal, but a simple meeting between a council woman and some constituents to have a conversation. Something, whether it be this newly proposed plan or something else, will have to go to the city council, with a public hearing, and the city council as a whole would then decide whether to accept some new plan,” wrote Norton.
The park has become increasingly controversial, pitting Malibu West neighbor against neighbor, created a volley of emails and the possibility of more opportunity for acrimony as these neighbors meet again in council chambers to hash it out.