Lawsuit Delays Hearing Date on Malibu Cityhood

Malibu cityhood backers were dealt an unexpected blow this week when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to await the outcome of a lawsuit before setting a hearing date on incorporation.

The decision Tuesday probably will erase any chance that a hearing will take place in time to set a March election.

“We asked for a gesture of good will, and this is what we received instead,” said Walt Keller, co-chairman of the Malibu Committee for Incorporation. “We’re being denied our right to vote for cityhood, and we’re losing patience.”

Superior Court Judge Miriam Vogel last week set a Nov. 16 court date to hear arguments on a lawsuit filed by a Malibu landowner, asking Vogel to overturn the Local Agency Formation Commission’s approval of Malibu’s cityhood petition because the agency did not do an environmental impact report.

Sought Nov. 17 Hearing

Incorporation advocates, banking on a favorable ruling by Vogel, had asked the board to set a hearing for Nov. 17. But the supervisors, on the advice of Assistant County Counsel Gerald Crump, postponed the hearing indefinitely.

If Vogel rules that an environmental impact report is necessary, the election could be delayed for up to a year.

Keller and other members of the incorporation campaign said they will hold a news conference outside the supervisors’ chambers today to protest the board’s decision and to try to pressure supervisors into setting a hearing date shortly after the court hearing.

Crump told the supervisors that he believed Vogel’s action prevented the board from taking any action or even discussing the matter. Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Ed Edelman had requested that the board set a hearing the day after the court date, but the other three supervisors voted against the proposal.

The board’s action was the latest in a series of attempts to delay a vote on Malibu cityhood. Supervisor Pete Schabarum has said repeatedly that the board, which has been trying to place a regional sewer in Malibu for 20 years, would make every effort to block incorporation until Malibu residents agreed to build a sewer system in the community.

The board is studying a proposed $34-million sewer system for Malibu and is expected to have hearings on the proposal early next year.

Schabarum, who sits on the LAFCO panel, led a bitter fight to allow Los Angeles County to retain control over sewers in Malibu for 10 years after incorporation. When that tactic failed, the Board of Supervisors delayed a hearing on incorporation until the last day allowed by law.

Crump told the supervisors that they have until Dec. 9 to set a hearing to place the cityhood measure on the March 7 ballot. The next election couldn’t be held until June.