Coastal Panel Gives Malibu Key Role in Escondido Canyon

The California Coastal Commission has approved a settlement that calls for developer Sheldon Gordon to buy 80 acres of Malibu’s pristine Escondido Canyon and donate it as parkland in exchange for being allowed to build four luxury mansions in Malibu’s exclusive Sweetwater Mesa area.

The complicated arrangement, which some observers say could cost the wealthy developer millions of dollars, represents the stiffest penalties ever for a violator of the state’s coastal protection law.

The state panel unanimously approved the settlement, ending nearly two years of often bitter negotiations resulting from its having revoked Gordon’s development permit in 1990.

But because the arrangement depends on the approval of Malibu officials, the matter may not yet be near a resolution.

Malibu’s City Council, whose members say they oppose overdevelopment of the community, must now decide whether placing Escondido Canyon in the public domain is worth approving construction of the mansions, each nearly 10,000 square feet, and including guest houses, swimming pools and tennis courts.

Three of the council members swept to victory in last month’s election on a platform that emphasized the protection of Malibu as a semirural enclave and opposing the kind of ostentatious development that many believe the Gordon proposal represents.

Some observers believe the City Council is in a no-win situation.

If it goes along with the commission arrangement to allow Gordon to develop his 184-acre Sweetwater Mesa property, critics will accuse the council members of acquiescing to the same pro-development policies that they accused their election opponents of promoting.

And if the council rejects the settlement, observers say, it will probably bring criticism from environmentalists who see the proposal as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to preserve Escondido Canyon as parkland.