Trancas Center Owners Take Second Stab at Light and Sign Plan

Owners of the Trancas Market Center are back before the Malibu Planning Commission on Oct. 7 for a second hearing on a master sign and lighting plan for the west-end shopping center. A preliminary draft of the plans came under heavy scrutiny from neighbors and commissioners during an initial hearing in June.

The plans have since been revised to include a provision that all outdoor signage lighting will be turned off one hour after each business closes, all signs will be lit with downward facing LED ‘strip’ lights and most signs will “conform to project-wide style including letter font, materials, colors, background, lighting, mounting and framing,” according to a staff report.

Reps for the Trancas Center, which is owned by Wal-Mart heiress Paige Dubbert, have apparently been meeting with the Trancas West Homeowners Association (HOA) for more than 18 months to try and address concerns over nighttime lighting at the shopping center.

One of the remaining points of contention is a caveat that shop owners turn off all interior lights overnight, something neighbors have requested of center owners.

“The applicant has indicated that they do not wish to regulate each individual tenants’ use of lights because the tenant may need lights for security purposes or for people who are dining at the restaurants or shopping at the market to see their window displays for advertising purposes,” the city staff report states.

The HOA has also requested “more exterior lights” be turned off when the center is closed, but Trancas Center ownership has only consented to shutting off 50 percent of its gooseneck lamps because of safety and security reasons, according to the staff report.

The Planning Commission on Oct. 7 will discuss the revised plans and decide whether to OK the modifications in order for the owners of the Trancas Center to implement the lighting and sign designs.

The Trancas Center has been under construction for more than a year and has yet to install an anchor tenant in the major grocery space that was home to HOWS Market until 2011. Leasing agent Tony Dorn has vowed a new grocery store will be open at the center by January 2014. 

The future site of a grocery store at the Trancas Market Center remains largely under construction. Erewhon had planned on moving into the 16,000-square-foot space but last week confirmed it would no longer be opening in Malibu.