"The Edge" wants to build five ridge-top homes in the mountains above Malibu, but the California Coastal Commission staff says the project would violate state law by ruining a wild area and scarring hillsides visible from Pacific Coast Highway.
In an analysis released late Friday, the commission's staff said the 156- acre project north of Malibu's landmark pier would violate the Coastal Act in several aspects.
Among other problems cited by the state is that nearly 50,000 cubic yard of rock and soil must be mined and moved. A proposed private access road up the mountain would have a 19 percent grade -- so steep that the fire department says it needs several "staging areas" for fire trucks to stop to let their brakes cool.
The cluster of five multimillion-dollar estates is proposed by David Evans -- better known by his U2 band name "The Edge" -- and his wife and business partners. They have called it "Leaves In The Wind," and set up an elaborate web site to paint it as a green project.
"I hope you will agree that my partners and I have worked diligently to design homes that will meet the highest environmental standards," The Edge wrote on his web page. "Why did we go to so much effort? Because we love Malibu."
Evans/The Edge is promising to build houses that will blend with natural rock outcroppings, and use natural and native plants to screen them for privacy and to make them blend in with the environment.
Despite that pledge, Evans' lawyers are fighting the Coastal Commission vigorously, and have even broken the project up into five separate applications. They argue that it is unacceptable for the Coastal Commission to consider the "separate" application in one proceeding.
The state has investigated and found that the "separate" applicants are all linked to Evans by marriage or longstanding business relations. The state stops short of calling recent actions to split ownership of the land a sham, but notes that all five applications were filed on the same day and employ the same consultants.
The staff report also notes that Evans has told reporters he wants to sell three of the multimillion dollar estates to pay for the entire project, and make a profit, which in turn destroys his lawyers' claim that the projects are unrelated and cannot be considered together.
The Coastal Commission staff report said the five homes would straddle a "significant ridgeline" visible from the pier and Malibu Lagoon, which are state parks, and from PCH, which is a state-protected scenic route where new development must be screened from view.
"The area is undeveloped and comprised of steep, rugged mountain terrain that blanketed by various natural rock outcroppings and primarily undisturbed native chaparral habitat," the state report concluded.
The staff report is advisory, but the Coastal Commission relies heavily on such findings when it decides on proposed coastal development, as required by a California constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1972, and as implemented by the Legislature in 1976. Its decisions can be appealed, but they can only be overruled if a court finds it violated its discretionary power.
The Coastal Commission will consider the matter at a meeting on Feb. 10 at the Chula Vista City Hall, 276 Fourth Ave., in Chula Vista.
source : http://www.dailynews.com/
In an analysis released late Friday, the commission's staff said the 156- acre project north of Malibu's landmark pier would violate the Coastal Act in several aspects.
Among other problems cited by the state is that nearly 50,000 cubic yard of rock and soil must be mined and moved. A proposed private access road up the mountain would have a 19 percent grade -- so steep that the fire department says it needs several "staging areas" for fire trucks to stop to let their brakes cool.
The cluster of five multimillion-dollar estates is proposed by David Evans -- better known by his U2 band name "The Edge" -- and his wife and business partners. They have called it "Leaves In The Wind," and set up an elaborate web site to paint it as a green project.
"I hope you will agree that my partners and I have worked diligently to design homes that will meet the highest environmental standards," The Edge wrote on his web page. "Why did we go to so much effort? Because we love Malibu."
Evans/The Edge is promising to build houses that will blend with natural rock outcroppings, and use natural and native plants to screen them for privacy and to make them blend in with the environment.
Despite that pledge, Evans' lawyers are fighting the Coastal Commission vigorously, and have even broken the project up into five separate applications. They argue that it is unacceptable for the Coastal Commission to consider the "separate" application in one proceeding.
The state has investigated and found that the "separate" applicants are all linked to Evans by marriage or longstanding business relations. The state stops short of calling recent actions to split ownership of the land a sham, but notes that all five applications were filed on the same day and employ the same consultants.
The staff report also notes that Evans has told reporters he wants to sell three of the multimillion dollar estates to pay for the entire project, and make a profit, which in turn destroys his lawyers' claim that the projects are unrelated and cannot be considered together.
The Coastal Commission staff report said the five homes would straddle a "significant ridgeline" visible from the pier and Malibu Lagoon, which are state parks, and from PCH, which is a state-protected scenic route where new development must be screened from view.
"The area is undeveloped and comprised of steep, rugged mountain terrain that blanketed by various natural rock outcroppings and primarily undisturbed native chaparral habitat," the state report concluded.
The staff report is advisory, but the Coastal Commission relies heavily on such findings when it decides on proposed coastal development, as required by a California constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1972, and as implemented by the Legislature in 1976. Its decisions can be appealed, but they can only be overruled if a court finds it violated its discretionary power.
The Coastal Commission will consider the matter at a meeting on Feb. 10 at the Chula Vista City Hall, 276 Fourth Ave., in Chula Vista.
source : http://www.dailynews.com/
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