The California Coastal Commission board voted unanimously at its April 8 meeting in Oxnard to allow the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to keep the Temescal Pool permanently filled in with dirt and covered with sod. The Commission issued the Conservancy an emergency permit in January to fill in the empty pool, located in Temescal Gateway Park, because the pool posed a threat to overall stability of the site and the surrounding area if rain should occur, according to the emergency permit. Last Wednesday’s decision allows the work that was done to remain as long as the Conservancy wants, said Gary Timm, the Commission’s coastal program manager. From the time the emergency permit was issued on January 9, the Conservancy had 60 days to file for a regular permit to have the work be considered permanent, according to Timm. If the Coastal Commission had not received such an application, the Conservancy would have had to reverse the work within 150 days. The Conservancy can still apply for a permit in the future to reopen the pool, Timm said. The Palisades-Malibu YMCA had operated the pool until February 2008, at which time the facility was closed for repairs estimated to cost $400,000. In December, the Conservancy board decided to develop a long-term plan for the park before possibly offering a new pool lease. When the crews were filling in the pool in January, MRCA chief ranger Ken Nelson told the Palisadian-Post that the work was being done in such a manner that the pool could be reopened. For now, the area will be used for public picnicking, while the pool deck, pool house, maintenance/equipment building, and paved parking lot remain until long-term plans for the site are developed and the necessary permits obtained. The Conservancy hired Dudek, an environmental and engineering consulting firm, to conduct a master plan for the park. Executive Director Joe Edmiston told the Palisadian-Post on April 9 that the planning process has been halted because the state has frozen bond spending in the midst of its budget shortfall. Edmiston could not say when the planning process would resume. Before the April 8 Coastal Commission meeting, Friends of the Temescal Pool president Jane Albrecht submitted a letter to the Commission asking for a postponement to ‘give a reasonable amount of time for the Friends and the regional community to provide comments on the matter, and to ensure that the Commission has a full and accurate understanding.’ Albrecht added that she was notified of the meeting late because the notice had been sent to the wrong address. She said that a few days’ notice was not sufficient for Friends or the community to respond or for the Commissioners to read the submissions and properly consider them. When the Commission gave permission in January to fill in the pool, ‘neither the local government nor interested parties had any notice,’ Albright wrote, adding that the Commission gave oral permission to fill in the pool on January 7 and work began the next day. The actual emergency permit was issued on January 9. ‘Especially in light of how the emergency permit was handled, the Coastal Commission should afford the community a full, fair and meaningful opportunity to brief the commission,’ Albrecht wrote. At the April 8 meeting, Friends also submitted a 26-page report to the Coastal Commission stating its position. In January, Friends filed a lawsuit against the Conservancy and its partner, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, asking the court to order the Conservancy to negotiate a pool lease, pay to repair the pool, and make the park fully accessible to the disabled. Friends contends that the land was purchased with Proposition A funding, which is partly intended to create recreational facilities for senior citizens. According to the lawsuit, ‘The pool was the only part of Temescal Gateway Park that was open and accessible for recreation use by many handicapped and senior citizens of the community.’ The pool was handicapped-accessible and the YMCA offered rehabilitation programs. Friends also argues that by filling in the pool, the Conservancy violated its contract agreement with the Presbyterian Synod, from which the land was purchased in 1994. The Conservancy has since filed a demurrer and Friends has until late May to reply, said Laurie Collins, Conservancy’s chief staff counsel. A demurrer is a pleading in effect that even if the facts are as alleged by the opposite party, they do not sustain the contention based on them. If the judge denies the demurrer, the Conservancy has to file an answer to the Friends’ complaint. If the judge honors the demurrer, the case is either dismissed or Friends may have the option of amending its complaint to move the case forward. In the meantime, Friends of the Temescal Pool is continuing to work on a viable business plan for an aquatics program at the pool. ‘[Edmiston] indicated that he would consider such a plan in the future, as the [Conservancy] develops its comprehensive plan for Temescal Gateway Park,’ said Jean Rosenfeld, a Friends member. ‘We believe that the pool can and will be repaired and that an aquatics program will be resumed,’ Rosenfeld added. ‘Friends continues to work in a positive and collaborative relationship with any public agency that will facilitate our purpose.’
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