Malibu Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation Scores Another Big Win by Strengthening Environmental Safeguards for Future Operation of Perenchio Golf Course

Malibu, California, (July 20, 2004) The year-long controversy with the Perenchio private golf park near Malibu’s famed Surfrider Beach came to a resolution on July 14 when the California Coastal Commission (CCC) approved an “after-the-fact” permit allowing continued operation of the golf park, but only after also approving a state-of-the-art water quality plan for the park, including several final environmental safeguards put forward by the Surfrider Foundation, and an agreement to donate the 10 acre park to the Malibu Lagoon State Park upon the death of the landowners.

The 10 acre private golf park was built in 1982, even though its CCC permit allowed only a private jogging track and parkland. Instead, the landowner--billionaire Univision Television founder Jerry Perenchio--built a large putting green, sandtraps, and fairways approaching the green from different directions. Perenchio has stated that he thought he had informal verbal agreement from CCC staff to allow the golf park to be built. Runoff from the golf area, and a special drain underneath the putting green, tied into a storm drain emptying into Malibu Lagoon. Because of a large wall surrounding the property, the discrepancy between its permitted use and reality was only discovered in recent years when the famous aerial coastal photographs of Kenneth Adelman were compared with CCC permits.

When the discrepancy became public, the Malibu Chapter of Surfrider Foundation expressed strong concerns that the intensive watering and usage of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides on a putting green and small golf course could be one of many causes of negative water quality at Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach.

The Malibu Chapter formed a task force of member volunteers to work on the issue. When it appeared in mid-2003 that the CCC might approve an after-the-fact permit with few safeguards for water quality from the golf park runoff, the Chapter wrote to the CCC with detailed concerns and recommendations, and initiated a petition signing campaign to urge the CCC to stand firm and not allow the golf park to cause any harm to the lagoon and Surfrider Beach. Over 2,000 signatures were gathered in person and on-line, and presented to the CCC. Other environmental organizations also weighed in heavily to protest the golf park, including Heal The Bay and Wetlands Action Network, which even filed a lawsuit on the matter.

In December 2003, the CCC directed its staff and Perenchio’s representatives to come up with a revised water quality plan and improvements to the golf park that would be highly protective of the environment. On July 1, 2004, that proposal was made public, and the CCC scheduled a meeting on July 14 to vote on it.
The proposal included sealing off the surface and subsurface inlets to the stormdrain except during flood conditions, capturing that golf park runoff and the putting green drainage and reusing them as irrigation water in the park, and following state-of-the-art methods for reduced irrigation and the use of pesticides and other chemicals in the park. Lastly, Perenchio offered to donate the golf park (appraised at $24 million) to the Malibu Lagoon State Park upon his and his wife’s death. While Perenchio insisted that only two of the park’s ten acres could be used to expand the lagoon (the rest would be a passive recreation park) it would still improve the ecology of the lagoon, although it might not happen for 20-40 years or more—after both Perenchios have passed away.

Despite the fact that they were only given two weeks to review and prepare to testify on the final proposal in time for the CCC hearing, the Malibu Chapter’s local grassroots volunteers studied it closely and consulted with experts on Surfrider Foundation’s National staff. While vastly improved from the late 2003 proposal, several areas of concern were found. The Chapter immediately communicated their concerns to the CCC, Perenchio representatives and the local media. Late in the afternoon before the hearing Chapter members were elated when the CCC staff notified Surfrider that four of its five recommendations would be accepted as part of the final plan.

The four accepted recommendations were:

1. Requiring photographs of the completed water quality construction work, such as the sealing of the underground outlets from the putting green to the lagoon storm drain. (Given the discrepancies in the 1982 construction work from its permits and given the fact the CCC does not have the resources to inspect completed work, Surfrider felt it was important for public trust to have publicly-accessible photographs to confirm the completion of the permitted work).

2. Requiring testing of the putting green drainage system to ensure it truly captures all the subsurface water and contaminant flows it was designed for and that it returns those flows to the on-site irrigation system intended with the new permit.

3. Placing a computerized recording system on the valve that will allow surface runoff from the park to flow to the lagoon in the event of flood conditions. Surfrider wanted verifiable assurances that the valve would only be opened during floods and not during minor rain events or cases of accidental over-watering of the golf park.

4. Requiring that the actual daily records of the new minimal irrigation and chemical applications on the golf park will be submitted to the CCC and publicly accessible. This will help ensure that the environmentally friendly golf grounds keeping methods approved by the CCC are carried out and monitored over time.

Not accepted by the CCC was a Surfrider recommendation to install several test wells along the perimeter of the property to see if water from the Perenchio property, which might be carrying contaminants, migrates underground to the lagoon or ocean. The CCC concluded that the other safeguards were sufficient and that test wells in the complicated hydrologic conditions of the Malibu Lagoon area would produce confusing results in terms of where pollutants were coming from.

On July 14, the CCC voted to approve the after-the-fact permit for the Perenchio golf park with the four additional safeguards proposed by the Surfrider Foundation.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of our Chapter’s accomplishments,” said Alan Reed, Chair of the Malibu Chapter, “Our volunteers spent countless hours over the past year researching the situation, collecting petitions and making recommendations to the CCC. The fact that significant improvements were made to the final plan at the last hour thanks to the hard work and persistence of the Surfrider Foundation represents a huge win for our Chapter, for Malibu and for the environment. We appreciate the willingness of CCC staff and Mr. Perenchio’s representatives to reach agreement on our requests for increased reporting to the CCC and public on the construction work and on-going operations at the park. With these enhancements, our fellow surfers and the citizens of Malibu will have much greater assurance that the water quality safeguards proposed will be implemented and adhered to until the golf course is turned over the state.”

Note: A huge "Thank You" to Chad Nelson from Surfrider National, who spoke on behalf of the Malibu Chapter at the Coastal Commission hearing on Wednesday, July 14th.

Malibu Surfside News - State Panel Expected to Approve Land Offer
Malibu Surfside News - July 8
At its meeting in Costa Mesa next week, the CA Coastal Commission is expected to formalize a settlement agreement between the agency and A. Jerold Perenchio on an offer to deed 10 acres of private property to the state after his and his wife's death. (For the full article - contact Malibu Surfside News - newsmalibu@aol.com )

Perenchio Golf Course News (Oct 2003 through April 2004)
April 12, 2004 Final Draft Letter to The California Coastal Commission
April 12, 2004 Letter to LA Regional WaterQuality Control Board
Oct 1, 2003 Letter to the Coastal Commission Requesting that the Commission deny the application for a permit amendment (seeking permission to retain and operate an unpermitted ten-acre private golf course in the coastal zone and delta of Malibu Creek)

Malibu Times - Foundation petitions to reject Perenchio's golf course
By Jonathan Friedman/Special to the Malibu Times
The Malibu Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation says it has collected about 800 hard-copy signatures and 648 online signatures as of Tuesday morning for a petition that recommendsthe California Coastal Commission reject Malibu Bay Company (MBC) President Jerry Perenchio's request for an after-the-fact permit for a private golf course on his Malibu Colony property. Link to full article