MALIBU, Calif. — Drivers passing through Malibu along PCH, can find miles of scenic ocean views, beachfront homes and a line of RVs and vehicles parked overnight. Alex Corona, who lives in a converted school bus in the Corral Beach area shared that having this area to park in is helping him save up to buy his own home.
“My wife lives 30 minutes away from here, and like I said I live in Malibu, and we just have a five-year plan of living in this school bus to save every penny that we can,” Corona said.
Inside, it looks much more like a studio apartment than a vehicle. That home on wheels is helping him and his wife save money to buy their own home in L.A. County. But just one year into their five-year plan, Corona has been finding it difficult to find overnight parking throughout the county.
“Right now, with the fires, all of the forestry places to go camping are not available with COVID a lot of the BLM land like the public lands are not available,” Corona said.
That’s why Corona and some of the other overnight campers are staying put in Corral Beach and Zuma Beach areas in Malibu, where vehicles are allowed to park overnight without any fees. But as more RVs stay in the area, residents like Paul Grisanti, who is running for city council shared that the area isn’t equipped for trash and RV blackwater that other residents have seen dumped in the area.
“We now have a bunch of people who’ve decided that they want to live on what were formerly our public beaches and it’s made it much less accessible to people who actually live here or the people who drive over from the valley on a hot day,” Grisanti said.
To help keep the area clean, Corona and some of the other long-term parkers in the area regularly have their own beach cleanups. But despite their efforts, the Malibu City Council recently approved a new ordinance to bring staggered parking restrictions along PCH in those areas. Now, it’s up to the California Coastal Commission for final approval. In a statement Mayor Mikke Pierson shared, “The parking, public access, homelessness, sanitation, and safety issues are complex at these two locations [and] the city is working on additional comprehensive solutions.”
While the newly approved ordinance can’t take effect just yet, Grisanti remains hopeful that it will soon lighten parking congestion in the area.
“I’m hopeful that we will start to see once again some turnover of the parking spaces so that people who do come over here to use the beach are able to find a parking space,” Grisanti said.
This situation is a growing concern for Corona and others in the area.
“For them to take away those two last pieces of land where people can actually enjoy and just road trip and come and visit without having to pay $100 to stay by the ocean, I mean I feel like that’s just a little greedy,” Corona said.
While residents and those who park in the area overnight have their differences, Corona is determined to make it through his five-year plan, all in hopes of finding his own address down the road.