Media mogul Jerry Perenchio and his family apparently have resolved their 10-year feud with the city of Malibu after agreeing to vastly scale back their ambitious development efforts.
The Perenchio family’s Malibu Bay Co. and a city committee last week reached a long-term development agreement that covers 11 properties throughout the city. In exchange for city approval of their development efforts, the Perenchios have agreed to give the city almost 19 acres of Point Dume property and up to $5 million for the development of soccer and baseball fields and a community center.
The Perenchios also agreed to give up their rights to build more than 305,000 square feet of allowable commercial development at Point Dume, Trancas and the Civic Center and to commit more than 25 acres to permanent open space.
“It’s been very positive so far. This has been a 10-year land war between the Malibu Bay Co. and the city,” said City Councilman Tom Hasse.
While the agreement is still subject to approval of the five-member city council, Hasse and fellow council member Joan House helped craft the deal, and several community leaders, who were among the Perenchios’ fiercest opponents for years, said they are supportive of the agreement.
“(The Perenchios’) generosity has done this,” said Paul Almond, a longtime resident and advocate of open space. “I’m pleased, in fact, delighted. It’s going to be built sometime, so let it be built in a minimal fashion.”
The agreement allows the company to build up to 185,000 square feet of low-rise commercial and retail space on the “Chili Cook-off” site at the Civic Center, but Malibu Bay agreed not to develop the site or an adjacent parcel for at least 10 years.
“There was tremendous resistance to developing that parcel. It’s extremely visible,” Hasse said. “That, more than any other parcel, took up the most discussion and debate.”
During the interim, some community members are interested in raising funds to buy that property to assure that it remains open space.
Terms of deal
Under the agreement, Malibu Bay also would be entitled to build several individual projects, subject to environmental review and approvals by the city and California Coastal Commission.
These include: 85,000 square feet of office and some retail west of City Hall; 4,000 additional square feet of a medical offices and office redevelopment on the Saint John’s parcel, also in the Civic Center; 33,261 square feet of additional retail at Trancas Market; 13 homes on 25 acres at Trancas Fields; two homes on about five acres at the Old Riders & Ropers parcel and five homes at Trancas Beach.
It’s a far cry from plans several years ago to build a town center for up to 1,500 residents designed by San Francisco planner Peter Calthorpe. Opponents attacked the plans as out of sync with Malibu’s semirural character, as well as creating traffic, congestion, noise and air pollution.
In 1993, the city rejected an offer to settle a lawsuit brought by the Malibu Bay Co. and other civic center property owners over its controversial interim zoning ordinance, which limited development in the city. The property owners wanted “economically viable” development rights. The city eventually won the suit in 1995.
Malibu Bay’s proposals have been gradually chipped away over the years to end up with 122,261 square feet (or almost 290,000 square feet, if the Chili Cook-off property is eventually developed).
“Even if you don’t like what we’ve proposed, it’s far less than what the city currently allows,” Hasse said. “When you compare it to past plans, there’s no comparison.”
Malibu Bay owns more than 90 acres of vacant commercial and residential property in Malibu, along with the Malibu Colony Plaza, the St. John’s/Old Post Office buildings on the Pacific Coast Highway and Trancas Market.
Appeasing disparate parties
Hasse said he and Councilwoman House tried to craft a proposal that would reflect the diverse values of the community. That meant taking into account environmentalists who wanted open space, parents who wanted sports fields and equestrians who wanted trails preserved.
“Some of the priorities of the city were to decrease the amount of commercial build-out and have certain public amenities and maybe walk on a different path. The agreement allows those three things to happen,” House said.
Why were the owners willing to take such a reduction in the end? Hasse said the agreement gives the company certainty about what it can do in light of a long-hostile relationship with the community.
“They were tired of being beat up by the citizens of Malibu,” Hasse said.
Malibu Bay representatives declined comment, other than a written statement praising the agreement.
“It affirms MBC’s right to responsibly develop its properties, it honors and protects Malibu’s unique character and it affords my family an opportunity to give something of real value back to the community,” said John Perenchio, son of A. Jerrold “Jerry” Perenchio, the low-profile billionaire chairman/CEO of Univision Communications Inc.
The agreement will be scheduled for public hearings and eventually go to the council, and will require an environmental impact report. So far, Hasse said, he’s only received one negative reaction from the public.
“We seem to have overwhelming support from people who really don’t like the Malibu Bay Co.,” Hasse said.
Jo Ruggles, a planning commissioner with a slow-growth reputation, said the agreement looks “on the surface, to be balanced.
“Depending on the different constraints or issues with residents in different areas, it may need tweaking. On the whole, the council did a good job of resolving a longstanding dispute,” Ruggles said.
Hasse noted that the city has “exhausted other alternatives.” Since 1991, the city has made various attempts to reduce and shape future development, including a building moratorium, its first general plan and interim zoning ordinance.
In November 1998, a public opinion poll determined there would be insufficient support for a bond measure to purchase undeveloped commercial properties.
The review and entitlement process is expected to take between 12 and 18 months. If the council does not approve the agreement, the planning commission would consider the company’s applications to develop about 200,000 square feet in the Civic Center later this year.
