Malibu Adds $605,000 to Planner Contracts After Reviews Fell Behind

Civic Solutions gets $495,000 of it, after staff warned its contract would run dry before it expired in December.

Four hired planners are carrying more than 456 Malibu development applications. When the contracts that pay them began running short of money, some of those reviews slipped behind schedule.

On Oct. 12 the Malibu City Council voted unanimously to stretch its deals with three firms, 4Leaf Inc., Civic Solutions Inc. and CSG Consultants Inc., by two years and raise their combined spending caps by $605,000, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported.

Council member Haylynn Conrad looked at that pile and called it "a lot for four consultants," according to the Daily Press. Staff countered that most of the 456 have cleared approval and moved on to building plan check. That leaves about 100 in active review, roughly 25 for each planner, a load staff called "a very doable good workload."

The roster behind those reviews has thinned. City staff said the department's budget for contract planners was about $1 million in 2022 and is about half that today, while the head count has fallen from 15 to fewer than nine, the Daily Press reported. Back in 2022, staff said, turnaround times "were not the best."

"We have the money in the bank. It sounds like it's just a question of having room on the contracts," Council member Doug Stewart said, the Daily Press reported. Civic Solutions needed the most room, according to the Daily Press: $495,000 more, taking its ceiling to $925,000 through Dec. 9, 2028. Without the extra room, the firm would've hit its cap before its December end date, according to a city staff report the Daily Press cited.

Those caps are limits, not promises; a firm bills only for work it actually does, the report said. Community Development Director Yolanda Bundy said the trouble came down to two higher-level contract planners, and she confirmed the late cases weren't fire rebuilds.

Conrad still voted yes, though she said the city spends heavily on consultants and wondered whether more of the work could someday move in-house. For now, staff say they'll open the planning contracts to fresh bids before the extensions expire.

Source: smdp.com, retrieved October 27, 2026. Other sources: malibucity.org.