Cher’s Plans for Mansion Get Conditional Approval

Cher’s plans to build a 16,000-square-foot mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu have won the conditional approval of the California Coastal Commission.

By an 11-1 vote, the commission last week gave Cher permission to build a Mediterranean-style home near Pacific Coast Highway and Puerco Canyon Road. But the panel, meeting in San Francisco, said it would reserve the right to approve the landscaping, the color of the house and the color and location of the security walls with which the entertainer wants to surround the two-acre property.

“The commission was obviously concerned about the visual impacts of the construction,” said Chuck Damm, the commission’s deputy director. “Given the size and prominence of the property, they wanted to ensure that the colors blend into the natural environment.”

The coastal panel had postponed considering the matter last month, after several commissioners expressed concern that the 10-foot-high security walls might block the view of the ocean.

After viewing a scale model of the proposed 15,822-square-foot home in January, Commissioner Gary Giacomini questioned the need for the walls, saying that they reminded him of San Quentin prison. However, Commissioner John Hisserich cast the dissenting vote at Thursday’s hearing.

Damm said that the action clears the way for construction to begin, but that Cher would need the commission’s approval before proceeding with any elements of the work on which conditions were placed.

A spokesman for Cher was unavailable.

Cher’s architect, Scott Carter, has said the walls surrounding the bluff-top property were needed to provide “as much security as possible” for the entertainer.

The house is to have a five-car garage, tennis court, swimming pool, a reflecting pool at the main entrance and a detached workshop.

Although huge, Cher’s house would not be as large as others the commission has approved in Malibu, including a 19,905-square-foot house built by actor Michael Landon.