MALIBU : Freeze on Single-Family Home Building Extended

By a 5-0 vote, the Malibu City Council has approved extending for another year a freeze on most single-family home construction that expires March 25.

But because members could not agree on the criteria for making exemptions, they passed a law that is not as stringent as many of the council members would have liked and could possibly open the way for many would-be builders to go ahead with their projects.

The ordinance, passed last week, keeps the moratorium in place but weakens the criteria that determine whether a specific single-family home can be exempted.

Unless the ordinance is strengthened this week, the measure would open the door for an undetermined number of builders whose projects were not exempted earlier to reapply.

By law, the council will be unable to take steps to toughen the measure once the existing moratorium expires, meaning that it will be stuck with the measure unless a compromise is reached before Wednesday.