Malibu Bay
Development
Project Environmental Impact Report
– City of Malibu
Envicom Corporation prepared an EIR for twelve Malibu Bay Company sites, totaling 110 acres, under contract with the City of Malibu. Under a Development Agreement with the City, the Malibu Bay Company plans would develop eight sites for commercial and residential uses, donate a site at Point Dume for a City park, leave one site as undeveloped open space and two others as undeveloped with limited sanitation/water uses. As part of the Development Agreement, the Malibu Bay Company would make a donation of funds, in addition to donating the park site. The developed sites included three residential projects for a total of 20 dwelling units at Trancas Canyon; a commercial site at Trancas Canyon with approximately 62,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and market space; and several commercial sites in the Malibu Civic Center, including retail, restaurant, cinema and office space totaling approximately 294,000 square feet. The commercial site in the Civic Center would also include public amenities such as water features and an amphitheater. Recycled water would be utilized where possible in the Civic Center commercial sites in toilets, for irrigation and in water features.
The EIR evaluated the impacts for each site individually, as a combined project set, and in a cumulative context, to give the City and developer maximum flexibility and avoid having to re-write or re-circulate the EIR should only portions of the proposal get approved. The sites are located within the Coastal Zone area between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Key issues for the project sites were biological resources (including wetlands/waters issues, water quality including impacts on the adjacent/nearby Pacific Ocean/Malibu Lagoon), effects on environmentally sensitive habitats as well as loss of foraging habitat for birds), Coastal Act and General Plan policy issues, geology (proximity to a fault), hydrology, and fire hazards/service.
A City Council-approved motion would allow the City, under a Development Agreement Option, was passed, which alternatively allowed the City to purchase one of the Civic Center sites (for possible uses including a park and a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant), and to delete the park proposal for the Point Dume site. The current commercial zoning and land use designation at the Point Dume site would remain in place. If the alternative future development on these sites were to be pursued, the City of Malibu would undertake additional future environmental review on the as-yet un-detailed proposals.