The city of Malibu Tuesday sued two agencies in an attempt to establish the city’s ownership of public trails and trail easements within the city’s borders and to address what city leaders contend is a long-documented pattern of unsafe and inadequate trail management.
The Los Angeles Superior Court complaint targets both the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. The legal action comes in the aftermath of a series of wildfires that have struck Malibu in recent years.
The complaint cites numerous issues on MRCA-managed trails, including an alleged chronic lack of adequate parking facilities that forces trail users onto Pacific Coast Highway, one of the most dangerous roadways in California. The suit also identifies MRCA’s alleged failure to consistently enforce the required sunset trail closure, which has on occasion left trail users in the dark and prompted calls for emergency assistance.
Representatives for the agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In November 2024, the Broad Fire originated on MRCA-managed Malibu Bluffs Open Space, burning approximately 50 acres and damaging multiple homes and other structures during dangerous Santa Ana wind conditions. Just weeks later, in December 2024, the Franklin Fire erupted north of Pepperdine University along Malibu Canyon Road, adjacent to MRCA-managed parkland, and burned more than 4,000 acres, destroyed 20 homes and other structures, and triggered evacuations for tens of thousands of residents.
Both fires spread rapidly through overgrown, unmanaged vegetation on MRCA lands, the suit states.
At a public town hall following the Broad and Franklin Fires, Malibu residents accused the MRCA of allowing vegetation to accumulate as fuel. The historical pattern of fire risk created by inadequate fuel management on MRCA lands is a documented, recurring and foreseeable hazard, the suit alleges.
State records show that in the year before the Broad and Franklin Fires, less than 200 acres of fuel reduction had been performed across MRCA’s estimated 75,000-acre holdings, which the suit contends is a fraction of what responsible stewardship requires and what residents have long demanded.
Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein said the city did not take legal action without first working with MRCA to try to resolve the beach community’s concerns. Those efforts failed and the City Council concluded that suing was the only option, according to the mayor.
“As the steward of all public property within the city, Malibu has a responsibility to ensure that property is managed and maintained to protect public safety and environmental resources,” Silverstein said in a statement. “We have an obligation to act in the best interests of our residents, visitors, and other stakeholders, which means ensuring that the public lands within our community are safe, properly maintained, and responsibly managed.”
When collaboration failed to produce the necessary changes, the city was obligated to take the steps it did, the mayor further said.