Just weeks after Malibu officials lined up with golden shovels at the April 11 groundbreaking for the city’s long-awaited permanent skatepark, City Hall quietly attempted to slam the gates shut on the beloved temporary facility—before a single scoop of dirt had been turned.
Their plan? Dismantle the temporary skatepark on Sunday, April 27 with barely any notice to the public and zero transparency. The kicker? They thought no one would notice.
They were wrong.
The abrupt closure sparked outrage among local parents and skaters—especially since the city had explicitly promised the temporary park would remain open during construction. That promise was echoed as recently as April 11 at the groundbreaking ceremony, and again in public posts by Malibu Community Services.
But on April 23, residents were blindsided by a quiet announcement that the park would be shuttered that weekend. No public vote. No heads-up. No discussion.
Or so it seemed—until local skateboarding legend and original Malibu Skate Team member Andy Lyon did some digging. Lyon discovered that the decision had been quietly slipped into the April 15 Parks and Rec Commission meeting under the vague label “staff updates.” That means the public never had a fair chance to weigh in.
“I was told by Alicia Peak it was under ‘staff updates,’” Lyon said. “No notice, no warning, no chance for public comment. That’s not transparency—that’s deception.”
The city claimed the park needed to be removed for construction staging. But when Lyon called CS Legacy, the contractor for the new skatepark, they flatly denied making that request:
“That came from the city,” they told him.
And that’s when things got even more suspicious. Residents began to speculate that the real reason might be parking—not construction. Developer Scott Gillen, known for taking over bluffside parking with his luxury projects, has long been a thorn in the side of skaters, surfers, and neighbors. With the city doing little to curb Gillen’s footprint, some suspect this closure was less about logistics and more about clearing space for a developer’s convenience.
“This whole thing reeks of backroom dealing,” Lyon said. “There’s no world where this park needs to be torn down before construction begins. The city made a promise, and they tried to walk it back in the shadows.”
But the community wasn’t having it.
Thanks to Lyon’s relentless advocacy, a crowd showed up at the Monday, April 29 City Council meeting, demanding accountability and action. Facing public backlash, the council was forced to reverse course. The temporary skatepark will now stay open through Labor Day.
That victory didn’t come easy. Lyon called out not just the last-minute decision, but the ongoing pattern of shady moves from City Hall—including a previous closed-door settlement with Gillen that circumvented public process.
“They tried to bulldoze the community,” Lyon said. “We fought back—and we won. But this better be a wake-up call.”
For now, the temp park remains, and construction on the new facility will move forward as it should have all along—without sacrificing the space that kids and families depend on.
But Malibu City Hall isn’t off the hook just yet. The community is watching.
Very closely.
Leave a Reply