Meeting to Address Conservancy Camping Plans Focuses on Concern in Latigo Area

• Opponents that Packed Malibu City Hall Didn’t Make Trek to Palisades

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

A public scoping session for the proposed Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Malibu Parks Public Access Enhancement Plan that includes hiking trail improvements and camping facilities at five conservancy properties in Malibu was anticipated to be hotly contentious and packed with plan protesters.
Instead, it attracted instead less than a dozen members of the public, most of them Latigo Canyon residents, who were there to express concerns about a proposed campsite and parking lot on a 2.4 acre parcel owned by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority that is located approximately a mile up the canyon road.
The controversial Latigo campground would consist of five public campsites, one camp host site, restrooms, a 10-car parking lot and a 10,000-gallon water tank on land that area residents say is not buildable due to an active landslide.
“I only found out about [this meeting] a couple of days ago,” Michael Strange, whose property is adjacent to the conservancy land in Latigo, told the panel of SMMC representatives and project consultants, questioning the conservancy’s assertion that over 1000 notices were mailed by a company that provided a list of property owners.
“I was burnt out in 2007,” Strange said. “If I had known what would be happening next door I wouldn’t have rebuilt. I cannot ask intelligent questions or respond. There was not enough time [to review the conservancy plans].
“I’m in favor of public access,” Strange continued. “Public access is very important, however, that does not mean you do campsites in irresponsible locations. Where you will put the parking lot is [on] a landslide. The Latigo Canyon campsites are 60 feet away from Latigo Canyon Road. The parking lot is 20 feet higher than the camps. Three of the camps are in an ESHA, less than 50 feet from the stream. Camping in the blueline [stream] and parking on a landslide makes no sense.”
Another neighbor of the MRCA property, who shares the only easement in or out of the two lots, expressed concern that conservancy plans would block access to his land. “There are street guidelines,” he said. “I’m curious how the SMMC got around that.”
Dixie Moore, who has owned property in Latigo since 1960, rallied most of the residents who attended the meeting. “I was the only one who was notified,” Moore told the panel.
Moore said she has survived seven wildfires. “The fire danger is so extreme,” she said. “If a fire starts [at the proposed campsite], forget the people who live on the old road, or on Corral. I’m the only house up here. You are putting my life in danger. There were four houses when I built. They burned in 1970.”
Moore also took exception to one of the project’s proposed trails, which she says is located on her property.
“That’s my driveway,” she told the panel. “It’s been posted private property since 1960. “Over my dead body are you coming over my driveway. I’m putting you on notice, if I ever see anyone up on my driveway, they will be arrested,” she said.
A resident of nearby Murphy Way also expressed anger at a conservancy plan to construct a trail across what he said was private, not public, land. “How are you going to study the environmental impact, if I don’t want you on my property?” he asked.
Local activist Patt Healy, representing her organization the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth, spoke out against the plan to incorporate camping in other Conservancy properties in Malibu, including SMMC’s Bluff Park Open Space property.
“We are for trails, but fire danger is very real.” Healy said. “The Bluffs Park fire reached the coast in minutes. The City of Malibu is building a park at Trancas without camping and their EIR said fire danger would be increased.”
“I think our greatest concern is fire risk,” Corral Canyon resident Michael Novotny said, expressing surprise that the meeting was held in Pacific Palisades, rather than Malibu.
“You’re getting resistance because of camping. We’ve all experienced [fire] and we don’t want to go through it again,” he said.
Troy White, a representative of Dudek and Associates, the firm handling the engineering and environmental plans for the SMMC project, assured speakers that their concerns would be addressed during the Environmental Impact Report process and that all comments would be included in the report.
He also stated that there would be more opportunity for public input as the project moves forward. The current plans are available at: smmc.ca.gov