Cityhood Backers Sue to Force Malibu Vote

Impatient backers of Malibu cityhood filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to force the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to set an April election for voters to decide whether to incorporate the seaside community.

“We think we’ve done the only thing left for us to do,” said Walt Keller, co-chairman of the 1,000-member Malibu Committee for Incorporation, which filed the suit along with the Malibu Township Council.

The Superior Court lawsuit accuses the supervisors of violating a state law that gives them 60 days from the time they begin hearing a cityhood matter to conclude the hearing, before setting an election in another 30 days. The supervisors took up the issue Oct. 19, and voted 4 to 1 last month to postpone a decision until construction permits are issued for a Malibu sewer system the county wants to build.

Supervisor Deane Dana, whose district includes Malibu, issued a terse statement through a spokesman concerning the lawsuit, saying, “We expected it.”

Assistant County Counsel Bill Pellman described the state law as “directory, not mandatory,” and said the supervisors were under no obligation to abide by such a timetable.

“We think they (cityhood supporters) are looking at the law in a very narrow manner, and that our own legal advice is sound,” he said.

Graham Ritchie, a lawyer for the incorporation group, called the county’s position “absolutely ridiculous,” and accused the supervisors of “complete disregard for the rights of Malibu residents.”

Cityhood supporters, many of whom have long opposed the county’s sewer plan as a recipe for widespread development, see incorporation as their best chance to wrest control of the sewer system from the county.