This story has been edited. Please see editor’s note below.
Malibu City Council voted 4-1 Monday to leap back into the fray and join in the appeal of the Measure R decision that struck down the formula retail ordinance voted into law in November 2014.
Council added a stipulation that any legal fees over $75,000 would have to be approved by council, in hopes that they could avoid bleeding out hundreds of thousands of dollars in a lengthy appeal. Jenkins & Hogin, the city’s legal team, will continue to represent the city.
Initially, the decision hinged on the vote of Mayor Laura Rosenthal. She argued that if the Court of Appeals upholds the earlier decision, that would be a decisive end to the ordinance that earlier this month was reinstated in the city following a writ of supersedeas approved by a three-judge panel.
“I want to hear what the Court of Appeals is going to say,” Rosenthal said. “I think if we get the same answer the Court of Appeals gave us, that’s a very strong answer.”
Rosenthal went on to say that if the appeals court decides instead to uphold Measure R as a legal ordinance, that “muddies the water a little bit.”
“We’ll deal with that as we go forward,” Rosenthal said.
The ordinance, which passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote (59.27 percent) in 2014, puts restrictions on the number of chain stores allowed in the city and has residents vote to allow major commercial developments over 20,000 square feet. In April of this year, a Superior Court judge ruled that the “court has sympathy for Measure R’s goals,” but that the law itself was illegal.
Since that time, interveners on behalf of Measure R advocates — Dru Ann Dixon-Jacobson, Carol Moss and Michele Reiner — have launched an appeal. On Monday, City Council voted to join in the effort, despite initial protestations from Mayor Pro Tem Lou La Monte. La Monte argued that the city would be getting the benefits of the appeal without having to splash out any of its own funds.
“I just think the money from council isn’t going to change how the Reiners are going to do this — they’re the appellants,” La Monte reasoned. “We’re getting a free ride out of this.”
La Monte softened his stance when Rosenthal suggested the $75,000 ceiling, eventually voting in favor of joining the appeal. Council Member Joan House was the sole dissenting vote.
Members of the public came to speak on both sides of the issue, in a Measure R debate that was uncharacteristically civil.
“You were right about this thing from the very start,” Lloyd Ahern told council. “The City of Malibu did not write this thing, the City of Malibu is not responsible or this blunder.”
Lynn Norton, a longtime advocate of Measure R, countered Ahern’s remarks by reminding council that a majority of voters in Malibu favored the ordinance.
“I know that most of you didn’t originally support Measure R, but I also trust that you want to be representing the citizens of Malibu,” Norton said.
Council Member John Sibert agreed.
“We all said, ‘It now becomes a law of the city, and we will defend it,’ and I don’t see that’s changed,” Sibert said.
Council, at the suggestion of Sibert, also requested City Manager Reva Feldman allocate $450,000 into the 2016-17 budget toward a Civic Center Specific Plan. That budget is scheduled to be reviewed at the June 13 city council meeting.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Council Member Skylar Peak suggested a $75,000 legal spending cap in the appeal. That amendment was initially suggested by Mayor Laura Rosenthal and Peak did express support for the idea.