Council Quietly OKs Its Own Chain Store Restrictions

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Rosenthal said she wanted to pass the City-proposed formula retail ordinance because she felt it was important and did not want to wait four months when voters head to the polls to decide on the Reiner Initiative. 

The City Council voted unanimously Monday night to enact a new formula retail ordinance, meaning whether or not the Rob Reiner-proposed initiative passes the November vote, Malibu will have new restrictions on chain store development.

Nearing the end of a grueling five-hour meeting, and with a dwindling audience, the five-member Council elected to enact its long-awaited and much debated retail ordinance, despite fear it would cast councilmembers in a bad light for attempting to overshadow the other ordinance.

“People are going to twist it any way they want,” said Councilwoman Joan House, “we can’t do anything about that.”

By enacting this ordinance at the same meeting where they scheduled a nearly identical ordinance for a citywide vote, the Council expressed concern they would appear to want to weaken the Reiner Initiative.

“I don’t want it to be — true or not — construed that we’re trying to … get around that by doing our own,” said Councilmember Laura Rosenthal, adding, “I don’t also want to wait another four months to have something, because I think it’s important.”

Planning Commissioner John Mazza, who attended and spoke at Monday’s meeting, said that although the initiatives are similar, there was something lacking in the city’s.

“There’s nothing really wrong with this formula retail — it’s inadequate and it’s too short,” said Mazza. He mentioned that having no cap on square footage of development and ending the term of the ordinance after one year, as proposed, would be insufficient.

Following Mazza’s comments, the Council debated making changes to tighten the screws on the ordinance, eventually voting to amend the regulations to make a 3,500 square foot cap on formula retail development and temporarily do away with the “sunset clause” that would limit the time the ordinance would be in effect, for future review.

The 3,500 square foot cap had previously been discussed and later struck down by the Planning Commission in April 2014.

The move to enact these changes effectively brought the ordinance even closer to the Reiner Initiative, which will appear on the November ballot.

Although nearly 30 members of the public spoke during Monday’s meeting, only Mazza made comments before the Council regarding their proposed formula retail ordinance. No commercial property owners or developers spoke at the meeting, although Mark Persson spoke on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce against the Reiner-proposed Initiative.

A second reading and enactment of the ordinance is scheduled at the next regular City Council meeting, scheduled for Aug. 11.

Comparing the ordinances:

City Formula Retail Ordinance

• Applies only to businesses located in the Civic Center area

• Caps new formula retail establishments in the Civic Center to 45% per      shopping center

• Defines formula retail as having 10 or more locations in the United States

• Caps formula retail establishments in the Civic Center at 3,500 square feet

• Exempts insurance offices and lower-cost overnight accommodations

Reiner Initiative:

• Applies to businesses located anywhere within Malibu

• Caps formula retail establishments at 30% in shopping centers

• Defines formula retail as having 10 or more locations in the world

• Caps new formula retail establishments at 2,500 square feet

• Exempts formula retail establishments between 1,400 and 5,000 square feet in existing shopping centers

Both:

• Exempt movie theaters, grocery stores, drug stores/pharmacies, gas stations, banks and financial services, real estate offices, postal service offices, medical offices

• Have no “sunset clause” or time limit