The electric vehicle company Tesla is coming to Cross Creek, as decided in a 3-2 vote by the Malibu Planning Commission on Monday, Feb. 1. The company will build a demonstration room at the Park at Cross Creek, the same shopping center that already has a Whole Foods and a Blue Bottle Coffee. The question at the commission’s hands was whether or not the room would be a showroom or a dealership.
“This is a visitor serving zone, CV-1, visitor serving,” Planning Commissioner John Mazza said. “It’s not a product-selling zone. Visitors come to Malibu for various reasons, but it ain’t to buy cars.”
Other meeting attendees spoke up with concerns about there not being enough space on site, while still others advocated for an approach more friendly to businesses who want to establish themselves in Malibu, especially because some in the community are still hurting economically from Woolsey.
Mazza and Planning Commissioner Kraig Hill voted against Tesla, but lost out to a majority that consisted of Planning Commissioners Jeff Jennings, David Weil and Dennis Robert Smith.