View Hearing Scheduled

• Council Hopes to Attract Big Audience

BY BILL KOENEKER

The Malibu City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed view restoration ordinance at its meeting next Monday night.

The agenda item was to be originally heard this summer, but was postponed after Councilmember Lou La Monte said the summertime scheduling was not the optimum time for public participation.

The citywide view restoration ordinance is described by municipal planners as a proposal  "establishing a private right of action for property owners to restore pre-existing views that have been significantly obstructed by landscaping on neighboring properties."

The majority of the Malibu Planning Commission in June was able to cobble together a proposed citywide view restoration ordinance using various parts from other cities, staff and commission recommendations.

A majority of the planning panel turned down a proposed ordinance that would have been more closely modeled after a Rancho Palos Verdes version.

The impetus for the proposed ordinance came from the voters on April 8, 2008 when an advisory measure asked the citizens, "Should the Malibu City Council adopt an ordinance that would require the removal or trimming of landscaping in order to restore and maintain primary views from private homes?" The measure was approved by 60 percent of the voters.

The then-city council decided in June, 2008 to create the View Protection Task Force to gather public input on what should be included in the citywide ordinance.

The now defunct task force met for almost a year and ultimately approved a proposed draft ordinance, which was forwarded to the planning commission.

During the public hearings and workshops there were some speakers who urged the commission to adopt the proposed ordinance, which was crafted by the municipal task force charged by the city council to vet the issue.

One of the panelists was La Monte, now a council member. The other was part-time Malibu resident                                             Suzanne Zimmer, who helped La Monte craft a minority report that differed sharply from the majority's recommended ordinance.

Former task force chair Sam Hall Kaplan, and former task force members Barry Tyreman, Leon Cooper, Marilyn Santmann, and Lucille Keller all joined forces to urge the commission to recommend adoption of their proposed ordinance.