Plans for overnight camping in Malibu already include provisions to reduce fire danger, a Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy official said Tuesday.
"We’re saying no camping between Sept. 15 and Jan. 15," said Joe Edmiston, executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) in response to concerns from Malibu residents over his proposals for overnight camping in Ramirez Canyon and Charmlee Wilderness Park.
Edmiston explained that the blackout dates coincide with fire season in the Santa Monica Mountains. He said campers will not be allowed to have open flames, only propane stoves.
"I think if people sit back and take a rational look at it, there is camping in Malibu, it’s just private expensive camping. At Malibu Beach RV Park they have open flame, they have those charcoal burners right up against the chaparral. Nobody mentions that," Edmiston said.
He encouraged Malibu residents concerned about fire danger to take a complete look at his plans.
"We’re going to have supervised camping and there’s camping at Leo Carrillo and at Malibu Creek State Park, and we’re just expanding those camping opportunities. If they can take a look at it, they can understand that we’re just as committed against fire as they are," Edmiston said.
Edmiston also said that any plans for camping in other parts of Malibu, including Corral Canyon, are years off, but that an application for camping at Bluff's Park is ready to be submitted to the Coastal Commission.
He said he has agreed to hold off on submitting the application while the city of Malibu considers a proposed land swap and settlement of a lawsuit over uses in Ramirez Canyon.
Under the proposed swap, the city would gain ownership of Bluff's Park in exchange for SMMC control over Charmlee.
Last week, the Malibu City Council voted to move forward and explore the land swap proposal, but outside of Edmiston's preferred end of January deadline. Instead, the council asked City Manager Jim Thorsen to prepare an analysis of Bluff's Park to make sure that the space can fit the needs of several athletic fields and a skate park.
Edmiston said he agreed to the extended deadline, but that he expects a decision from the Malibu City Council sooner rather than later.
"It’s fine for due diligence. This issue has been debated pretty thoroughly within Malibu. We’re just not interested in something that just drags out and drags out. Otherwise, we do have a proposal ready to go ahead for camping on the Bluffs," Edmiston said.
"I don’t want somebody to say, well, we’ll drag this thing out and then a year from now, they turn it down and meanwhile we could have been going ahead with our application to the Coastal Commission. We have an application ready for the camping on the Bluffs. … We’ll hold off for a month and see what you guys are going to do. There is no hard and fast deadline. Things are moving forward."
The proposed deal has been received with both praise and criticism within Malibu. Some parents have voiced support over the possibility of more athletic fields for Malibu's youth. Other residents, many of whom have lived through Malibu's devastating wildfires, are wary of Edmiston's plans to bring additional camping to western Malibu and other fire prone areas.
The group Preserve Malibu has set up a community meeting to find a new place for athletic fields in Malibu and to discuss residents' concerns. The meeting is set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27 at the Point Dume Clubhouse.
In addition, a petition started by the Corral Canyon Fire Safety Alliance to ban overnight camping in Malibu has garnered more than 600 signatures.
Malibu has a record of losing on these political decisions. So, we have a losing hand. Joe knows that, How do we play it? The city council has voted to negotiate with Joe. Any deal would go out for a pubiic hearing and then a vote from the council. Perhaps we should all calm down to see what they come up with? These are not stupid people, and they hear us. Remember, the state Supreme Court did not say no to camping. It said no to the legal trick that Joe pulled on the city. There are other ways for Joe to get camping at Bluffs Park, on Winding Way, in Ramirez Canyon. Joe has said the land swap is independent of the overall camping-inside-Malibu issue. Now, he says he is willing to work with the city on that. That's a good start.
"Malibu Fire Season Now Year-Round" - headline in LA Times, 2007. And it's more true today than ever. Changing climate is causing much-stronger wind events. >>> "We don't have a fire season anymore," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Saturday. "We have a year-round fire season, and it has profound implications for how policymakers and firefighting professionals are going to plan for the future, because you can no longer just plan for a September-through-November fire season." http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/25/local/me-season25
Discussions will include proposed SMMC land swap, fire dangers, city council actions, sport fields and other matters. Come grab a cup of coffee, a snack, meet some new neighbors and let's talk as a community. This is a private meeting, please email Preserve Malibu to RSVP and for directions: PreserveMalibu@gmail.com. Come to our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/PreserveMalibu. Let's Preserve Malibu Together. Thank you!
Anytime NOOA predicts winds over 30 mph ALL parks should be close to visitors - (12 hours before the wind event and reopened at its conclusion). That means that of 365 days a year, perhaps 330 will be safely available. (Even Sept through January when The conservancy suggests closing camping). Closing the park during wind events any time in the year is reasonable (lock the gates). Closing the park to camping at all times is not. This approach will keep residents safe while allowing us to share this special places. That is perhaps unless there is a reason other than fire to keep others out.
I think it was 1958 on a Christmas night the winds started a fire in Malibu Park. My cousin who lived on Calpine had to drive up and down waking his neighbors. Then not long ago, it happened here, again, in the middle of the night, I drove up and down Filaree and Floris laying on the horn to wake my neighbors. You can't depend on months or day or night to prevent fires. We need to have a discussion on how to prevent these fires, rather if they come from a cigaret, down power lines or campfires. I'm a camper, I have camped from Baja to Canada and inland. I love camping and campfires. I have a firepit at my place here in the Malibu Park area, that has been a wonderful get together, to sing and tell stories with friends and family. I don't want to keep anyone out, I love how people come to enjoy our parks and beaches, but lets be sensible about trading a beautiful place like Charmlee park for skate boards and fields and camping.
Please note, this is the only post ever recorded on the Malibu Patch from an entity named, uh, "Rick."
If we MUST have camping I'd rather have it on the Bluffs Park area near the beach where they will be close to the fire services at Pepperdine and Malibu Road and we can keep an eye on foolish behavior. To lose Charmlee for the barest possibility of a pair of ball fields to be built on a fierce slope at gigantic expense as John Mazza so aptly described seems a long shot at best. Can't the City acquire other, more suitable property if ball fields are such a priority?
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-city-of-malibu-and-the-santa-monica-mountains-conservancy-ban-overnight-camping-in-malibu-s-corral-canyon-and-high-risk-fire-areas
Please look at the picture I uploaded. 15 feet is far more accurate. There are several places where a driveway would be level with PCH, and the median is plenty wide enough for a turn lane to be added. The center median is not a state historic structure. John says Bluffs West would be "very hard if not impossible to develop"? That is some of the flattest land in Malibu. It used to be planted with lima beans, back in the old Rindge days. He is right that more than 1/3 is very steep. I'd say 2/3s. The existing flat area could easily accomodate fields -- WITH A MINIMUM OF GRADING - that would be more than double the size of existing Legacy Park, and that would leave 80 acres of canyons and cliffs untouched. "The two areas for fields could not be connected by a road since a deep canyon separates them" is not accurate either. They are connected by a road called Highway 1. The fields could easily be connected over Marie Canyon with a footpath and bridge.
What a disaster. This plan calls for shoehorning in a baseball field surrounded by five houses. The field would go where the street and cul de sac are now -- eliminating about 20 parking places at a park that is already crammed full with cars on weekends and after school. These houses would be so close to the field as to make it look like an inner city park. I've seen baseball fields with similar setbacks in Culver City, Santas Monica, Oxnard. The houses would transform the openness of Bluffs Park into a suburban city neighborhood. Awful. The proposed subdivision deal on the east end of Bluffs Park will ruin that city asset. Just ruin it. I will post the plat map.