Planned Malibu Golf Course Is Now in Doubt : Development: Financial problems may force group to change plans and build homes on 270 acres in Encinal Canyon. Another proposed course in Corral Canyon is hit by three lawsuits.
A financially troubled developer is said to have abandoned a controversial plan to develop an 18-hole golf course on 270 acres in Malibu’s scenic Encinal Canyon, and may instead attempt to build up to 69 expensive homes there.
“Every indication we have is that they plan to forget about the golf course,” said Paul Russell, a spokesman for a homeowner group long opposed to the plan. The golf course was proposed as a joint venture by VMS Realty Partners of Chicago, and the Anden Group, a subsidiary.
Although the developer has not announced a change in its plans for the property, Russell said company officials “have all but said” in recent meetings with members of the West Malibu Community Council that they intend to drop the golf course idea.
Meanwhile, trouble also mounted for another proposed Malibu golf course when three lawsuits--including one by Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp--were filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court in a bid to block the project planned for Corral Canyon. Neighbors and environmentalists say it would ruin the canyon.
La Jolla-based Sun Pacific Inc. wants to convert 340 acres of Corral Canyon into a private resort and residential area boasting an 18-hole golf course, a 52,000-square-foot clubhouse, 60 homes, six tennis courts, two restaurants and a swimming pool.
The so-called Malibu Country Club proposal there was approved by county supervisors by a 4-to-1 vote in December, with Supervisor Ed Edelman dissenting.
In his lawsuit, the attorney general asked a judge to overturn the approval on grounds that county planners and the supervisors failed to adequately analyze the environmental effects of the proposed development.
A lawsuit by the Sierra Club and the Corral Canyon Homeowners Assn., and another lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council, made similar requests.
Brian Lipson, vice president of strategic planning and project development at VMS, declined comment through a spokesman concerning the company’s plans for the golf course in Encinal Canyon. Doug Ring, the firm’s Los Angeles attorney, did not return phone calls.
Last May, the Regional Planning Commission voted to recommend against the golf course proposal. The recommendation came the same week that the Local Agency Formation Commission approved a request by VMS/Anden to remove the property from the Malibu’s proposed city limit.
Homeowner groups have argued that the moving of more than 4 million cubic yards of dirt, which the company said would be necessary to develop the golf course, would be an environmental disaster.
Last week, the matter was to have come before the County Board of Supervisors. But, with the agreement of VMS/Anden officials, it was postponed until April.
VMS is the sponsor of eight publicly traded real estate funds and about 100 privately placed limited partnerships. It has about 110,000 investors and controls real estate assets valued at about $9 billion. Beset by severe liquidity problems and facing major lawsuits from investors, the company announced last week that it was suspending payments to lenders and to its publicly traded funds.
Although relieved that VMS/Anden may no longer pursue the golf course, homeowners have taken a dim view of the plan to build the homes there.
“We’re not opposed to home-building per se, but they’re talking about moving 2 million cubic yards of dirt just to do that, and that’s far more than what is necessary,” Russell said.
Similarly, environmentalists and neighbors have argued that the Corral Canyon project would destroy wildlife and vegetation, as well as worsen traffic congestion along Pacific Coast Highway.
They are especially upset by plans to move 5 million cubic yards of dirt on the property and fill in an entire canyon.
“Our feeling is that to take a pristine canyon, cut off slopes and hills and fill it in order to build expensive houses would be a big mistake,” said Mary Nichols, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Frank Angel, president of the homeowners group, said that “the amount of grading they’re talking about is equal to a 250-story building that covers the entire surface of a football field.”
“We don’t think that’s what the area land-use plan means when it specifies minimizing land form alteration,” he added.
The $35-million development on land owned by entertainer Bob Hope still would need the approval of the state Coastal Commission, which is expected to consider the matter in the spring. In giving their approval, the supervisors sided with the Regional Planning Commission, which approved the project by a 3-to-2 vote last August.
