Malibu Council Election Results Support Policy Against Development

Results of the Malibu City Council election have confirmed the community’s hard-line stance against excessive development, as three candidates associated with growth battles were elected.

Final results Tuesday gave Councilwoman Joan House 23% of the vote and her council colleague Carolyn Van Horn 19%, enough to return them to office. Former council member Walter Keller got 20% of the vote, ending his two-year absence from the panel.

A loss by any of the three would have shifted the balance of power in the seaside community away from forces that have held sway since incorporation five years ago. The three cityhood leaders are expected to form a coalition to stop most major development projects.

House and Van Horn were the driving forces--along with retiring Councilman Jeffrey W. Kramer--in passing a general plan last year that seeks to preserve Malibu’s semirural residential ambience.

The plan, for example, requires most homes to be built on at least one acre of land and permits the construction of only one hotel.

Defeated in the election were Barbara Cameron, a city planning commissioner (14% of the vote); Mary Kay Kamath, a member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education (13%); Harold L. Greene, an attorney (7%), and Paula Login, a home builder (4%).

The challengers said they also supported slow growth, but said the restrictions have been so extreme that Malibu has run up exorbitant legal bills and, despite its tony image, failed to build a solid tax base.