A year after removal, Kraig Hill is back on Malibu Planning Commission
Michele Willer-Allred, Staff Reporter- 1:03 pm PST January 13, 2021 – Malibu Surfside News
Malibu resident Kraig Hill has returned to the Planning Commission.
Newly-seated City Council member Bruce Silverstein made the appointment on Monday.
John Mazza, who serves as chair of the five-member Planning Commission, as well as Dennis Robert Smith, were also appointed by new council members, Steve Uhring and Paul Grisanti, respectively.
Planning Commission members are appintred to four-year terms, with a new chair and vice chair selected by the commission each year.
Hill served on the commission 13 months when Mayor Mikke Pierson, on Feb. 24, 2020, announced his decision to remove Hill, who was then his appointee to the commission.
Pierson replaced Hill with David Weil, who still serves on the commission.
Pierson never really publicly stated why he removed Hill, but there was talk that it was because Hill intimidated applicants.
“Mikke told me I was asking too many questions,” Hill told Surfside News, adding Pierson had said as much “only once before he removed me.”
Others speculated Hill was let go because he didn’t bend the rules for developers.
“Kraig was removed after developers complained to City Council members about the number of questions he asked,” Silverstein said at Monday’s meeting. “Personally, I view willingness to put in the time to dig into the issues and ask the questions the reason to have Kraig on the Planning Commission, and not a reason for him not to be on the Planning Commission.”
“I look forward to representing the public interest, applying the code strictly and fairly, and keeping the vision and mission laws squarely in focus,” Hill told the Malibu Surfside News. “I do wish that the commission could become more diverse as we go along, particularly with the inclusion of a woman or three.”
Hill also commented on the City Council meeting on Monday, when the majority of the council voted in favor of limiting staff time to respond to requests not on the work plan by council members and commissioners.
“Hopefully, the city manager’s initiative to limit council and commissioners’ access to staff time won’t bog down the planning process by creating more continuances and denials of applications due to insufficient information,” Hill said.
Among several appointments made that night was Daphne Anneet to the all-male
Public Safety Commission. Anneet, a lawyer and partner at the law firm Burke, Williams & Sorensen, was also appointed by Silverstein.
Silverstein said the law firm deals with municipal law, and Anneet has personal experience dealing with matters of contractual relations between city and law enforcement, fire departments, and other departments of municipal service.
“I believe Daphne will provide a new perspective to the Public Safety Commission that will prove to be valuable to Malibu, especially when looking into our relationship with the Sheriff’s Department and possibly CHP,” Silverstein said.