Like many property owners who live near Nobu and Soho House, I was greatly interested in the discussion that occurred at the Planning Commission meeting at the Malibu City Hall on June 5. Finally, after years of frustration over severely limited parking anywhere within a half a mile of these two restaurants, the right questions were being addressed: How to manage off-site valet parking and employee parking on PCH.
Most of my neighbors were elated to learn several years ago that the long-shuttered Wind Sail and Pier View restaurants were to be razed and replaced with two attractive new restaurants. We did not have the foresight then to understand the impact that these restaurants would have on our ability to park anywhere nearby on PCH. It has been extremely difficult to park there from mid-morning to late evening. It’s not restaurant patrons so much as restaurant employees who take up the parking spaces, and they are easy to identify. In the morning, most wear white jackets (presumably kitchen staff). By mid-morning and afternoon, many wear black shirts, indicating wait staff. Near shift change times, I have observed cars waiting close to spaces that the morning staff “saves” for the afternoon staff.
The consequence of all of this is that my guests, visitors or I often have to park a considerable distance from our property. Other owners report the same thing. Not wanting to have our guests face the ordeal of parking so far away from our building, many of us leave our garage and park on the street very early in the morning or very late at night and let our guests park in our garage space. We sometimes do the same for vendors. Additionally, after watching and learning from restaurant staff, if a vendor can’t fit into our garage, we let them take the parking space that we save for them by parking on PCH very early in the morning.
Another consequence of the very limited PCH parking is seeing cars and trucks trolling up and down PCH, watching for a recently vacated space. If drivers see one, they make a nearly instant U-turn to get that space. This is dangerous for other drivers and pedestrians. Also, don’t be surprised if there are reports of altercations over disputed parking spaces. It may or may not have happened yet, but if it does, I hope they remain verbal rather than physical.
The evening’s discussion made clear that off-site valet parking has serious parking and safety implications. If parking cannot be accommodated on-site, then valets may park patrons’ cars on PCH. If they park patrons’ cars across from the restaurants, they may jay-walk rather than wait for a nearby traffic light to turn green. Various solutions have been proposed, but nothing long-lasting seems satisfactory yet. The problem and its underlying conditions are complicated and I won’t discuss them here. For reasons mentioned earlier, however, employee parking on PCH has a more immediate impact on my neighbors and me than valet parking does. That’s because there are many more restaurant employees’ cars than patrons’ cars that cannot be accommodated on-site. Despite this, the employee parking problem might actually be easier to solve or at least face fewer impediments to a solution. Under current Malibu Municipal Code, off-site valet parking must be within 300 feet of the restaurant. Discussion about relaxing this restriction has occurred, but no action has been taken. No such restriction applies to (non-valet) employee off-site parking.
At last week’s planning commission meeting, I learned that Soho House is leasing parking space for its employees at 22619 PCH (where JAKKS Pacific was once located). The Soho House employee handbook provides explicit instructions to its employees about where they must park and gives them stickers to place on their car windows. Although some parking issues remain to be resolved at the planning commission meeting on Aug. 21, this seems to be an effective way to deal with a provision of its current conditional use permit concerning employee parking. There are other available lots on or near PCH that could be leased for employee parking that are a shorter walking distance to the restaurants than many employees are currently walking to work daily.
It remains to be seen whether the planning commission will require in August an amendment to Nobu’s conditional use permit to include provisions for onsite or offsite employee parking. However, what Soho House is currently doing is encouraging to all of us who live nearby.