city council
The council also directed the city attorney to draft a ballot measure that would ask voters whether they wanted to increase term limits or possibly eliminate them for council members.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
The Cornucopia Foundation will be able to use the county-owned courthouse property for its Farmers’ Market next year. But it will have to make sure it sells heaps of fruits and vegetables.
At Monday’s meeting, the City Council instructed City Attorney Christi Hogin to draft the final details of an ordinance for council approval that would rezone the Malibu Courthouse property to allow farmers’ markets operated by nonprofit charitable organizations to take place there. The property, which is owned by the county, was discovered last year by city staff to be zoned for educational, religious and governmental facilities. So the city and Cornucopia have been working since then on reaching a resolution.
The council instructed Hogin to include a restriction in the ordinance requiring at least 65 percent of the market space be used for selling fresh produce. Mayor Pro Tem Ken Kearsley wanted the amount to be 80 percent, because he said he wants it to be a traditional farmers’ market. He was also behind changing the wording of the proposed ordinance from allowing “open-air markets” to “farmers’ markets.”
Cornucopia President Debra Bianco said after the meeting that she thought the restriction was not too bad, but she would have preferred the produce minimum to be at 51 percent.
“It could be a problem [65 percent minimum] if we had a bad week and it would be something extra to worry about,” Bianco said.
After the ordinance is finally approved and put into law, Cornucopia must still go before the Planning Commission to receive a conditional-use permit for the market.
The council did not approve anything that would prohibit other nonprofits from using the Malibu Courthouse property for a farmers’ market. But Bianco said after the meeting that she had signed a lease with the county recently that allowed Cornucopia to use the property for its market on Sundays during a large portion of 2006.
Also at the meeting, the council instructed Hogin to draft language for a ballot measure that would ask voters whether they wanted term limits for city council members to be extended from two four-year terms to three, or if they wanted term limits eliminated altogether.
A ballot measure was approved in 2000 that limited a council member’s term to two, four-year terms.
“It seems like eight years is not enough time to complete a project given government and how slow it works,” said Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, who proposed the idea.
In order for a measure to get on the ballot for the April election, at which time residents will also be voting on two open council seats, it must be finalized by Jan. 13. The council does not meet again until Jan. 9. Since a second reading of the measure would be needed, the council would have to meet in a special session on or before Jan. 13 to approve it.
Additionally, the council voted to create an ad-hoc committee that will study the feasibility of the city partnering with the Malibu Film Festival. The festival will take place in April.
Lastly, it was announced that Sheriff’s Lt. Randall Dickey would no longer be serving as the Malibu liaison for the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station. The council recognized him for his work. Sgt. Jeff Price will serve as the interim liaison until a permanent replacement is found.