Malibu Adds August 12 Hearing on New Park Facilities Play

A public hearing over the proposals for new facilities at city parks in Malibu has been added for Wednesday, August 12. Three hours has been set aside for this one, at 5 p.m. that summer evening.

The two city council members on a special subcommittee — Haylynn Conrad and Marianne Riggins — have been trying to get the word around Malibu that the city council is going to make a final decision in September.

We've heard this before: three vacant lots purchased for parks use more than a decade ago are just sitting there at the same time that kids are practicing soccer in parking lots.

But the two public hearings held so far this summer were announced without much notice. In one case, just 24 hours advance notice for a meeting held in the middle of summer, when many people are on vacation.

The current favored plan is to put two soccer fields at the chili cookoff site, now called Ioki Park. Parking would go at the triangle lot at PCH and Webb Way. And a multi-generational senior center, community center and swimming pool would be shoehorned onto the vacant lot on PCH near Heathercliff Drive.

It's all very much up in the air at this point. Conrad and Riggins have called the meeting to cast a wide net on community opinion.

The next meeting is from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, August 12 at Malibu City Hall.