Malibu to reactivate dormant Board of Building Appeals Play

What do you do if the city building department tells a builder they have to do some expensive procedure, and the builder says it's not necessary? With 750-plus houses destroyed in Malibu last year, that is becoming a big question.

Decisions made by city building officials, under state law, can be appealed to a local Board of Building Appeals. That's never happened in Malibu.

The city has seven building professionals appointed to its Board of Building Appeals, but it's never met. Practically no one even knows it's there.

Not that many new houses are built in Malibu in any particular year, but there is a coming flood of construction in the fire zone. Monday night, the city council decided to reactivate the Board of Building Appeals — which we remind you is required by California law, but has never met in Malibu.

Mayor Bruce Silverstein said the board can serve as an extra set of eyes on the city building inspectors. Which is good for them, because it can reinforce their decisions.

"It takes the pressure off the staff being accused of being a roadblock when they're not, when they're doing what they can," Silverstein said. "But if the roadblock is removed, that's a win also and better late than never. We didn't have it before, I wish we had. I wish I had realized it had existed 18 months ago, but we know about it so the question is what we do with it."

It was a consensus decision to reactivate the Board of Building Appeals. Some council members said it was a bad idea to put a project expediter on the panel. But the decision Monday was to reopen the board for nominations — building professionals in the community to serve as a backstop for the building inspectors.