Last week, the California Court of Appeal upheld various permits issued in 2003 by the City of Los Angeles facilitating the Palisades-Malibu YMCA’s acquisition of a four-acre site in Temescal Canyon and continuing the summer day camp and seasonal sales of Christmas trees and Halloween pumpkins at that location. In June 2004, the Los Angeles County Superior Court dismissed all contentions of the Friends of Temescal Canyon without qualification, and it was this dismissal that was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. The Temescal site, located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Temescal Canyon Road, is the subject of a 1985 option agreement that requires recording of a parcel map before title can be transferred to the YMCA. Although the City approved the map, and the Court of Appeal has now upheld this approval, Friends of Temescal Canyon will now take an appeal to the California Coastal Commission, which also has jurisdiction under the Coastal Act. “We are pleased with the appellate court decision,” said Carol Pfannkuche, executive director of the local YMCA. “It will allow us to continue our longstanding tradition of providing positive, community-oriented programs and activities involving Palisades families in this location. Frank Angel, the attorney representing the Friends of Temescal Canyon, while disappointed with the court’s decision, told the Palisadian-Post that the appellate decision will not prejudice the Coastal Commission’s decision. “We are especially disheartened by the court’s acceptance of the City’s dismissal of the seriousness of privatizing public parkland as a non-significant environmental issue that would not require a general plan amendment,” Angel said. “The Brentwood/Palisades plan classifies Temescal Gateway Park as publicly owned open space, with the express purpose of ensuring long-term general public access to this parkland. That assurance is not given, even with the Y’s 10-year promise to keep it as open space.” In addition, The Friends argue that the agreement between the YMCA and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is not binding on the Coastal Commission. “The agreement does not force the Commission to sign off on the permit,” Angel said. “By law, the contract between the Y and Conservancy cannot force the Commission to sign off on a coastal permit.” The Coastal Commission had not yet made a decision to place the matter on the August calendar.

A head-on collision at 6:30 a.m. on Pacific Coast Highway occurred Tuesday morning, July 19, leaving two people in critical condition and a third with less serious injuries. A Ford F150 headed southbound on PCH, just before Chautauqua, was hit head-on by a northbound red Toyota Celica. It appeared to investigators that the driver of the Celica had fallen asleep at the wheel and when the car hit the pylons which divide the road before the Channel/ Chautauqua intersection, jerked awake, turning his car to the right. When the driver realized he had turned too far to the right, he then overcompensated by jerking the car to left bringing it directly into the path of the truck. PCH between Chautauqua and Temescal Canyon was closed for almost four hours while the investigation was conducted.. According to Captain William Alderson, LAFD Station 69 received a dispatch at 6:33 a.m. and were on the scene by 6:37. The two people in the red Toyota Celica were extricated through the roof of the car with the Jaws of Life. All three people involved in the crash were transported to local hospitals: Santa Monica/UCLA Hospital and UCLA Medical Center Trauma Unit. The total time from the moment they arrived on scene until the driver went into the operating room was 25 minutes. “The top half of the car was crushed,” A LAPD West Traffic Officer investigating the scene reported. “It doesn’t look like either of the two in the Toyota will survive.” The two people in the Celica had head trauma and crushed pelvises, and were still in critical condition at press time. The condition of the truck driver was unknown.

Miramar Coastal Properties, a full-service, boutique residential real estate brokerage company, has opened a plush, second-floor office in the Bowinkel building at 1011 Swarthmore, above Whispers. The founders are Bill Kerbox, a residential real estate agent for 18 year, and Ron Stockdale, a veteran commercial real estate broker who worked from 1990 to 2002 for Soboroff Partners, the property management company owned by Palisadian Steve Soboroff. “Our dream is to build a Palisades-based business that’s professional and service-oriented,” said Kerbox, who lives with his wife and two children in the Highlands. “With all the acquisitions and mergers in recent years, we saw an opportunity to jump in and establish a high-end boutique’the opposite of a discount broker. We feel we are going to attract experienced brokers who want to be part of something that won’t be taken over or sold.” Stockdale, who also lives in the Palisades, will run the office as managing partner and long-term strategist, with Kerbox as director of sales. “Our concept of real estate is performance-based,” Stockdale said. “When we sell your house, judge us on the bottom line.” “We intend to provide the highest level of real estate brokerage services to our clients while navigating the tedious process of selling their most precious family asset for the highest possible sales price in the least amount of time and inconvenience to our clients,” the Miramar owners said in a press release they had prepared prior to an interview in their newly-refurbished and furnished suite of offices. “We’ve spent $100,000 to get this place ready, which is about 10 times over budget,” Kerbox said with a painful laugh. “But it’s going to be worth it.” Stockdale had a checkered career in commercial real estate. He was Broker of the Year for the Irvine Company in 1994 and 1995 and L.A. County Broker of the Year in 1998. When Soboroff became president of Playa Vista in 2002 following his unsuccessful run for mayor of Los Angeles, Stockdale began transitioning into personal investment and developments. “I got to know Bill when he sold a couple of houses of friends of mine,” Stockdale said, “and then I hired him to sell my house in the Highlands two years ago. I was impressed by the incredible confidence and energy he brought to the transactions. He took charge and saw the transaction through to completion. You want someone like that who is going to represent you with passion and fire and expertise, because you’re paying him a lot of money.” Thus far, Miramar Coastal Properties has hired one part-time agent, Susan Livingston from Palisades Realty. When Kerbox decided to leave that firm, Stockdale said, “she decided to go with him. She saw an opportunity to work more closely with Bill.” “MCP will be focused on our clients and each client’s unique requirements,” Kerbox said. “We will pride ourselves on our accountability, professionalism, and image in the marketplace. This means that we will only hire agents who are willing to work within the team concept and agree with our business philosophy. We will only take listings that are reasonably priced, and we will not reduce our fees to get listings.” Currently, MCP is looking to hire “someone with a legal background, an accounting, and perhaps a design background to provide our clients with the most informed information available.” Kerbox and Stockdale said their advertising budget will exceed $40,000 this year, and they expect to sell “more than $100 million of real estate.” They added, “We expect to exceed 15 percent annual growth per year over the next 10 years. We plan to operate this company long enough to pass it along to our children.” Kerbox and his wife Tracy have two sons, Alec, 12, and Chase, 4, who both attend Calvary Christian School. He’s active as a board member at the Palisades-Malibu YMCA. Stockdale and his wife, Toni Long Stockdale (who has delivered over 3,000 babies as an ObGyn at St. John’s Hospital), are building a new home on Paseo Miramar. They have three adopted children: Charlie, 18, who is working at A La Tarte on Swarthmore; Caroline, 15, who lives in Colorado Springs; and Alana, 8, a third grader at Calvary.