Southeast : BURNED TWICE

Things are getting downright unneighborly in one Malibu neighborhood damaged by the 1993 firestorm.

Some residents of the city’s La Costa section say that their neighbors’ efforts to build even larger replacement homes could hamper firefighting efforts in a future blaze--not to mention blocking superb views of the mountains and the ocean.

The Malibu City Council this week decided to continue exempting La Costa residents from the extensive red tape involving new construction and from rules limiting the size of new homes. The law is designed to expedite rebuilding for 78 property owners who lost their homes in the fire.

The exemptions outraged lawyer Glenn Cairns, one of the few La Costa residents whose home escaped serious damage in the Calabasas/Malibu blaze. Cairns says allowing bigger homes in an area that is vulnerable to brush fires just provides new fuel for a fire and reinforces an image of Malibu residents as rich people who count on government bailouts whenever disaster strikes their expensive hilltop homes.

“How can Malibu ever ask for [federal disaster] money when they’re allowing such insanity?” Cairns said. “This is another catastrophe waiting to happen.”

But Joanne Gary, a teacher who is rebuilding the home she lost in the fire, says Cairns cares less about fire safety and more about making sure that the view from his residence is not blocked. “I have every right, if I follow the codes, to build the home I want,” she said.