Coastal Panel Rescinds OK of Plan to Build Homes in Encinal Canyon : Development: The surprise decision prompts threats of retribution from an attorney representing the project.

Unleashing a torrent of anger from the developer and a wave of optimism from Malibu officials, the California Coastal Commission has rescinded its approval of a controversial development in Encinal Canyon, voting in closed session to rehear the project.

The surprise 6-4 decision, rendered late last week by the commission during a closed meeting in San Diego, has sparked accusations of dirty politics and threats of retribution from an attorney representing the project.

Asserting that he knows “where all the bodies are buried” on the coastal panel, attorney Timothy A. Tosta focused his wrath on Commissioner Madelyn Glickfeld, a Malibu resident whom he derisively labeled “the Queen of the Coast.”

“I’ve been told I’d better start kissing (up to) Madelyn Glickfeld if I want to get my permit approved,” said Tosta, who represents the developer, VMS Realty Partners of Chicago and its subsidiary, the Anden Group.

Glickfeld, citing the closed nature of the commission’s deliberations on Anden, declined to discuss them or to respond to Tosta’s remarks.

News of the commission’s decision appeared to come as a pleasant surprise in Malibu, which last September sued the Coastal Commission and the developer to stop the 254-acre project located just beyond the newly incorporated city’s borders. VMS/Anden lobbied successfully at the county and state levels in the late ‘80s to have the boundaries of Malibu drawn to exclude the project.

“I really feel the commission did the right thing because this project never should have been approved in the first place,” said Sara Wan, a community activist who has fought the development since its inception.

City Councilwoman Carolyn Van Horn termed the commission’s switch “a step in the right direction.”

“I don’t want to deny anybody due process, but the concerns remain,” she said.

Malibu’s suit contends that the 1.2 million cubic yards of grading called for by the developer would violate the 1976 Coastal Act, which protects public views and natural landforms. The suit also alleges that lobbyists for Anden illegally contacted commissioners.

The Coastal Commission approved a 55-house development on the VMS/Anden land in July, 1991. It has since been scaled back to 34 houses and about 900,000 cubic yards of grading, but many Malibu residents say that is still excessive.

“It would mean that anyone who wants to put a home in the unincorporated sections of the Santa Monica Mountains could get 22,000 yards of grading,” said Wan, noting that the current average is about 5,000 cubic yards per home.

But whether the lawsuit--Malibu’s first since it incorporated as a city in March, 1991--actually forced the commission into changing its mind was not clear.

Ralph Faust, chief counsel to the commission, declined to speak about the specifics of last week’s decision but noted that the panel has previously reversed itself when faced with litigation--most recently in Huntington Beach, where the approval of a multiple-restaurant proposal was rescinded.

“Any agency in that situation weighs the likelihood of prevailing with the cost of litigation, the good of the agency and the good of the state,” Faust said. “A lot goes into it.”

Tosta, however scoffed at the notion that Malibu’s suit contained a shred of merit and blamed the about-face on the departure of two coastal commissioners who originally voted for the project. One was Mark Nathanson, who resigned early this year after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of using his office to extort money from people seeking coastal development permits. He has pleaded not guilty.

“We were going to go on to court and win,” Tosta said. “It’s that easy.”

He vowed to fight the decision in the higher levels of the state attorney general’s office.

“Essentially, we’re dealing with Munchkins now,” he said.

Malibu City Atty. Michael Jenkins, meanwhile, disputed Tosta’s contention that city officials conspired with commissioners in an attempt to sink the project.

“We haven’t had contact with the Coastal Commission at all,” he said. “This (decision) came out of the blue.”

Encinal Canyon Development The California Coastal Commission has rescinded its approval, given last July, of a controversial development of luxury homes on a 254-acre tract in Encinal Canyon. The parcel, owned by VMS Realty Partners of Chicago and its Anden Group subsidiary, is in an unincorporated area just outside the Malibu city limits.