Need EIR for Malibu Inn and Spa

In response to Ron Klamert’s letter of Aug. 4, giving a vote on a proposed development to the people is not a bad idea. Calabasas is a good example of how this can go wrong.

They have given the Malibu Valley Inn to the people for an advisory vote, but since the developer doesn’t want to pay to finish the Environmental Impact Report, voters don’t have correct or complete information on which to base their decision. That means the city will be basing its vote on empty information, since the whole point of the advisory ballot item is for the city council to use the information as a basis for its vote. The city has not voted on the development and that means voters don’t know what, if any, mitigation or alternatives will be decided upon.

If the city took responsibility for obtaining a complete and accurate EIR, decided on what mitigation and/or alternatives to use, and then gave the final decision to the people, voters would be able to make a more educated decision. The people would know exactly what mitigations would be required and citizens would be protected from the whims of an unrepresentative city council that may be voting based on political connections, funding, or aspirations that don’t represent local interests. This process would also make developers be more responsive to the interests of the residents, rather than to a politically-influenced city council.

There’s more. My mother has just gotten personally sued for writing the statement of opposition about the Malibu Valley Inn that will go on the ballot. The developer picked apart every item, claiming them to be false and misleading. He filed a lawsuit to force her to strike or change them, as well as pay his attorney fees and other costs which are projected to be in excess of $25,000. Nolan Burkholder Calabasas