Superior Court Upholds City’s Housing Plan

Averting what the city attorney said would have been a “disaster” for the city’s housing plan, officials are celebrating a Superior Court ruling that their proposal complies with state law.

The California Housing Council, an advocacy group representing apartment owners and builders, had filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s housing plan, which will guide Malibu’s development over the next half dozen years, said City Atty. Christi Hogin.

The Housing Council had alleged that the plan included too many environmental constraints and allowed too few housing units per acre. Whereas the city plan calls for about five residences per acre, developers had wanted to build about 25 homes and apartments per acre, Hogin said.

Last week, however, Superior Court Judge Julius Title in Santa Monica ruled that the city plan complies with state law.

Chris Harding, attorney for the California Housing Council, says the group will appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals. Malibu is “following zoning practices which are too common in affluent suburbs, excluding middle-income and poorer people. The city is trying to preserve Malibu for the people who already live there,” he said.