U2's "The Edge" Hits Bad Note In Malibu

Multi-millionaire U2 guitarist The Edge’s plans to build five new mountainside homes in Malibu have got a star-studded enclave seething with anger.

The guitarist - real name David Evans – claims that the homes will be “environmentally friendly” but locals at the exclusive Serra Retreat neighborhood like Kelsey Grammer, Dick Van Dyke and James Cameron, are opposed to the development.

Evans – who lives in Malibu – said: “My family and I love Malibu, having maintained a residence here for more than a decade. These homes will be some of the most environmentally sensitive ever designed in Malibu – or anywhere in the world. I’m disappointed that certain critics either don’t have the facts or have ulterior motives.”

But residents worry that the project would be an environmental disaster as it would require extending a hillside road, run new water lines plus grade masses of earth for the site.

Malibu council member Jefferson Wagner said: “The downside of this is a permanently scarred mountainside for the benefit of a very few that for many years all will view. For somebody so revered even to be orchestrating this kind of development in such a sensitive area is hypocritical.”

The actual location site is perched above Malibu’s city limits in Serra Canyon on 156 acres in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County.

LA County has granted Evans and his property partner Derek Quinlan “certificates of compliance” but The California Coastal Commission has voiced “significant concerns” about the project.

Evans and Quinlan would occupy two of the homes with the other three being built on speculation. The Coastal Commission will hold a meeting about the proposed development in June. (Photo: WENN)