California Coastal Commission Unanimously Approves Park Access and Camping in Malibu

• SMMC Adds Malibu Bluffs Parkland to Potential Campsites •

The California Coastal Commission followed staff recommendations and denied the proposed Local Coastal Program Amendment submitted by the City of Malibu that included a prohibition on overnight camping on public parkland within its borders.

After almost 10 hours of reports and testimony at the panel’s meeting in Marina del Rey on Wednesday, the commission unanimously approved a competing LCPA override submitted by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which wants to expand public camping options and other uses on its holdings in the area.

A ban on overnight camping was sought by the Malibu City Council after its initial efforts to reach a compromise with the SMMC on the controversial issue met with strong opposition from members of the community who view overnight use as a source of increased wildfire danger even though through no major California wildfire has ever been attributed to legal camping.

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Malibu testimony, including that by City Attorney Christi Hogin, City Manager Jim Thorsen, members of the city council and the Malibu Township Council, and a large contingent of residents, tried to keep the meeting’s focus on safety and wildfire issues, but a disconnect quickly became evident as representative after representative from recreation and inner city advocacy groups shifted attention to issues of public access, social justice and civil rights.

Several commission members expressed puzzlement that the City of Malibu continued to push for a ban on overnight camping, which is legal throughout the state on public lands . . .

A number of speakers and several coastal commissioners also indicated that they perceive what appears to be a contradiction between expressions of concern about legal overnight camping by city officials and the Los Angeles County fire department and the ongoing approval by both of residential development in high fire risk areas.

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From an advocate for the disabled in a wheelchair who criticized what she called Malibu’s “separate but equal” handicapped proposal to Spanish-speaking grandmothers who spoke passionately about the impact of the outdoors on their families, the need to make the Santa Monica Mountains accessible to everyone bolstered the CCC staff recommendations.

   —Anne Soble

Read the rest of this story on the Malibu Surfside News . . .

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