In a 2-1 vote, the Malibu Planning Commission agreed Monday to move forward with a signage and lighting plan for the Trancas Country Market development in western Malibu.
In further news, representatives for the shopping center owners said following the meeting that an announcement on the identity of a grocery store for the center should be coming in the next few weeks.
They also confirmed an emergency access easement had been negotiated with homeowners in the Malibu West neighborhood. However, the status of negotiations between the owners and the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) over where to turn around its buses on the Malibu 534 bus line remains unclear.
Clare Bronowski, an attorney representing shopping center owners Paige and Bo Dubbert, said the easement was “100 percent done.”
“Our requirement was to record an easement and it’s done, we are not required to build it,” said Bronowski.
Regarding the bus issue, MTA has historically used property across Trancas Canyon Road from the shopping center as the turnaround for its last stop on its 534 bus line through Malibu. The land is projected to be used as an employee parking lot, and negotiations have been ongoing.
When questioned about those negotiations, Bronowski said the “buses turning around is fine,” but did not add further details.
Bronowski referred The Malibu Times to construction manager Scott Rozier for further information, but Rozier declined comment.
Lights approved
The lights approval came after the developers agreed to stipulations regarding when lights will be turned off and details about store signage, a concern brought up by the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth, the Malibu West Homeowners Association (HOA) and some members of the Planning Commission.
“We are not nitpicking about designing signs for single family homes, this is a sign program for a whole shopping center,” said John Mazza, Planning Commissioner. “The whole purpose of it is for consistency and look.”
According to the plan, store signs are limited to three sizes and can only be 12, nine or six feet long and no more than 15 inches tall. Signs are limited to four colors: white, green, yellow or black. Storefront signs will be down lit with LED strip lighting, a move that met the approval of the Malibu West Homeowners Association and the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth. The Wells Fargo sign will be the same as all others, except for the trademarked font. A sign for Starbucks coffee is legal and nonconforming, dating from a sign permit approved in 1993.
The light shut-off plan, or what lights would remain on at night and when businesses would be required to turn out lights, was an area of consideration between the groups.
“We need to be detailed,” said Patt Healy, representative for the Malibu Coalition for Slow Growth.
According to the light shut-off plan, the Wells Fargo ATM lighting will be reduced to what is required by law. Interior store lighting will be required to be turned off at midnight or one hour after closing, whichever is first. Two tall parking lot lights will also be required to go out at midnight.
The developers will also remove pole lights along Trancas Canyon Road.