By William W. Abbott
Malibu Bay Company (“MDC”) owns the last undeveloped beach front parcel in Malibu, a 2.08 acre, 200 foot wide parcel. In order to accommodate its proposed division into four parcels, MDC proposed an amendment to the Local Implementation Plan of Malibu’s local coastal plan in order to create a new zoning district which would allow for lot widths of 45’, a decrease from the then existing standard of 80’. As the application advanced to the City Council, staff ultimately recommended that the required width for all parcels in same district as MDC’s property was located in, be reduced to the 45’ standard. Altogether, this would impact 733 parcels, although as staff noted, a majority of the existing parcels were already substandard to the 80 width standard. Staff further determined that only 5 parcels (including MDC’s) were capable of further division under the proposed 45’ lot width standard. Two of the five were subject to additional legal limitations precluding further re-division, leaving only two parcels in addition to MDCs. Staff concluded that with respect to the two with potential for re-division, that any further re-division would require a coastal development permit and CEQA review. Concluding that there would be negligible direct and cumulative effects on aesthetics, biological resources and land use and planning, staff recommended acceptance of a negative declaration. Due to the presence of a dune environmentally sensitive area, and based further upon a dune study submitted by the applicant’s biologist, mitigation for dune species was required. The City Council eventually approved a revised mitigated declaration, and conditionally granted the approvals, subject to Coastal Commission approval. Neighbors opposed the approval of the entitlements, and submitted a biologist study indicating potential impacts to sensitive species.
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