Malibu : Zoning Text Reworded

The City Council amended the city’s 2-month-old, interim zoning ordinance on Monday to make the wording more palatable to homeowners.

The ordinance now “grandfathers” homes built before the zoning ordinance was in effect, instead of making them “legal nonconforming.”

The terms mean the same thing legally, but the original wording drew howls of protests from a group of about 400 residents when the ordinance was approved March 26.

The Federation of United Property Owners of Malibu, also known as FED-UP, argued that the City Council had made 80% of the existing homes in the city out of conformance with city law.

The council agreed last month to send the whole chapter on “nonconforming buildings and uses” back to the city attorney’s office for a rewrite, because it has been the “subject of a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding in the community,” Councilman Walt Keller said.

Councilman Jeff Kramer added that “some people are concerned that it was a badge of infamy on the property.”

The council’s action revises the chapter on “nonconforming buildings and uses” and retitles it “grandfathering provisions.”

The wording change was part of a package of about 90 amendments that Planning Director Bob Benard said were largely corrections of typographical and clerical errors. The revisions come back for a second reading June 14.