Scoping Meeting Set For Santa Monica College-Malibu Campus

The Santa Monica Community College District wants Malibu's input on a draft environmental impact report for a proposed extension campus of Santa Monica College in Malibu.

A public scoping meeting, which is one of the first steps in the environmental process for a project, allows the public to provide suggestions on what should be included in the EIR, and is not meant to be a debate on the merits of the project.

The meeting, which is the second in a series of big projects coming to Malibu, is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 31 in the Malibu City Hall Multi-Purpose Room.

This week, during a public scoping meeting for the planned Rancho Malibu Hotel, more than 50 people , but also asked that any EIR going forward include analysis of the cumulative impact of planned development in and around the Civic Center area. Those projects include the hotel, the satellite campus, a Whole Foods grocery store and a subdivision of five luxury homes near Bluffs Park.

The SMC project will be located at the existing Sheriff's Station at 23555 Civic Center Drive, which was decommissioned in the 1990s and will be demolished. A two-story, 27,500 square-foot facility will be constructed in its place.

Plans for the campus include a science lab, art studio, computer lab, a lecture hall and two classrooms, as well as a sheriff’s substation and a community room that can be used as an Emergency Operations Center, according to city documents.

The campus will be able to hold up to 210 students and 12 faculty and staff members, the documents state.

The project would temporarily connect to the existing onsite wastewater treatment system serving Los Angeles County Civic Center Complex, and it would eventually tie into the planned wastewater treatment facility in the Civic Center.

Mayor Laura Zahn Rosenthal has previously praised plans for the project.

“The city is excited to be working with Santa Monica College and Los Angeles County on the advancement of this project. The satellite campus will not only provide new educational opportunities for the Malibu community, but will strengthen law enforcement’s ability to serve Malibu, especially during emergencies,” Rosenthal said in March.

Malibu Patch will have more on this story soon.