The city council will discuss several proposals to address the problem of national chain stories replacing locally owned, independent businesses.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The Malibu City Council will tackle the thorny issue of how to halt the decline of locally owned, independent businesses at its meeting Monday night.
The council will discuss a range of strategies to aid independent businesses in town, including a “shop local” campaign, amending the city’s permitting process and changes to the city’s municipal code that would limit the number of national chain stores in Malibu.
The 218-page staff report for the agenda item titled, “Growing and Sustaining Local Community Serving Business,” is the result of two public meetings that took place in June at which residents, business owners, city staff and others gave input on the issue. The council voted to hold the public meetings amid community outcry following the threatened eviction of Trancas Canyon Nursery in April. Many residents have expressed concern that local “mom and pop” stores are being driven out of Malibu in favor of high-end retail stores and national chains.
Based on input gathered from those meetings, city staff concluded the public has two primary concerns: the “escalating loss of community serving businesses in Malibu,” and “inadequate land use and zoning controls to preserve Malibu’s unique character from a changing commercial environment.”
To address these concerns, the staff report offers a range of short-, medium- and long-term strategies. The short-term possibilities include different options for “shop local” campaigns designed to promote and benefit participating businesses.
Both the Malibu Chamber of Commerce and the Cornucopia Foundation’s Malibu Business Alliance have proposed to operate “shop local” campaigns that the city could choose to support with funding. The city staff report notes the council could choose to support both. The chamber’s “shop local” plan includes both local and national stores, while Cornucopia’s includes only local independent businesses.
Mid-term options include amending the municipal code to require any businesses receiving conditional use permits to prove they strike a balance between visitor-serving and local community-serving uses. Long-term options would be to prepare specific plans for commercial development for one or more of the Civic Center, Point Dume, Trancas Canyon and East Malibu/Las Flores commercial areas. Estimated costs for studies needed to create the plans range between $300,000 and $500,000 apiece.
At the beginning of September, the city staff visually surveyed 418 businesses operating in Malibu to confirm their status and use. The most prevalent use was clothing stores (60), followed by dining (32), health and beauty (30) and real estate (28).
Also at Monday’s upcoming meeting, the council is expected to authorize Public Works Department Director Bob Brager to submit a record of Notice of Completion for the Legacy Park project. The city came in about $450,000 under budget on the project, according to the staff report. The total amount authorized for construction by the city council was $7,903,447, while the final cost for construction was $7,449, 631.
The council will also discuss the impending closure of Papa Jack’s Skate Park, and whether to appropriate an amount of $10,000 or less from the city budget to facilitate its relocation from its current location in the Civic Center to a not-yet determined site.