Health & Fitness
Blog: LA Planning to Vote on Plans for Original Malibou Lake Clubhouse Site
The owners of original Malibou Lake Clubhouse sight seek approval to build two single family homes.
Los Angeles Planning Commission to Vote on Plans to Develop Original Malibou Lake Clubhouse Site
To the protesters who would like to see the lot remain vacant, Clark Cable couldn't have said it better, "Frankly my neighbors in Malibou Lakeside, I don't give a damn."
Gable, Jimmy Cagney, Carole Lombard and other Hollywood types had been known to play a round of poker at the old clubhouse, a lodge style structure with 24 boarding rooms. The site is a popular dog walking park ever since the clubhouse burnt down in 1935.
The owners of the 5-acre site, consisting of two legal parcels on Seminole and Crags Drives, have bent over backwards to appeal to the protesters, offering to reserve a portion of the lot as a park. The zoning of the site is Resort and Recreational. It would be easier for the owners to obtain a permit for a convention center or a rodeo facility than to obtain the Conditional Use Permit to build the two single family homes that they are proposing.
Don Haskin, one of the owners of the site, hopes that the community will see the advantages of building two custom homes versus a commercial use that the zoning would allow. Haskin sees the potential for a beautiful equestrian facility on the site, including a riding arena. A trail-head into Malibu Creek State park is just a block away at the end of Crags Dr.
A group of neighbors offered to buy at least one of the two parcels rather than allow any type of construction. A price that would be acceptable to the owner has not been determined.
The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the matter at their regular session on Feb. 12 at the County offices downtown. The only variance requested is to cut down one of more than 50 oaks on the property.
