Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Malibu council adopts local emergency to remove unpermitted camping in high-fire zones, directs sheriff to enforce
Summary
The Malibu City Council on Sept. 29 adopted a local emergency declaration directing city staff to work with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to remove people engaging in unpermitted camping in designated very-high fire hazard areas; the sheriff said county policy limits criminalization but deputies will enforce applicable laws.
The Malibu City Council voted Sept. 29 to adopt a local emergency declaration aimed at reducing wildfire risk by removing unpermitted camping in areas the city designates as Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. Mayor Pro Tem Silverstein, who proposed adding a paragraph to the declaration, urged strong enforcement. “City staff is directed to work with LASD to remove all individuals engaged in unpermitted camping in any and all areas designated as VHFHZ in Malibu. If necessary to accomplish this object…such individuals should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent permissible by law,” he said during debate.
The motion passed by roll call with all five council members recorded as voting in favor. The declaration frames the issue as public-safety-driven: council members repeatedly linked camping in steep, brush-filled canyons to increased ignition and fire-spread risk.
Representatives of the Lost Hills Sheriff Station told council they will enforce applicable laws but reiterated the county'level policy on how to handle homelessness. Captain Dustin Carr said the county'wide posture is not to criminalize homelessness, but that deputies will enforce existing penal and public-safety statutes, including laws against lighting fires outside campgrounds and other criminal conduct. “We will be willing to enforce all those laws as well as any other applicable laws, but we do not criminalize homelessness as a posture of the county,” he said.
Councilmembers pressed the sheriff's representatives to make clear whether deputies would carry out a council-directed enforcement plan; staff and the sheriff's captain said they would raise the city's directive with county leadership while noting limits on county policy. The council asked staff to follow up with the sheriff's chain of command and the county to clarify how municipal direction and county policy will be reconciled.
The declaration passed on a 5-0 vote. Councilmembers said the action does not supplant ongoing outreach and homeless-outreach work, which the city said will continue in parallel. City staff also were directed to coordinate with county partners and other agencies to pursue compliance, sheltering options and, where appropriate, criminal enforcement for public-safety violations.
