The city was given a 90-day termination notice.
By Laura Tate / Associate Publisher/Editor
The City of Malibu was given notice by the owner of the property that contains Papa Jack’s Skate Park that its lease is terminated and it must move the park within 90 days.
Developer Steve Soboroff, who submitted an application to the city in May to develop the six-acre parcel of land located at Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road, sent a letter last week to City Manager Jim Thorsen informing the city of the lease termination.
“We have been pleased to have allowed the Malibu Parks and Recreation Department to use this site at no charge, and are happy to offer advice and support for its relocation,” Soboroff wrote in the letter addressed to Thorsen.
Soboroff plans to build a 24,000-square-foot Whole Foods store and four buildings totaling 14,000 square feet of additional retail space, with up to 4,000 square feet dedicated to restaurant and food service at the site.
Soboroff, in an interview Monday with The Malibu Times, said that because of “legal entitlements” in the process to get the property developed, the skate park needed to go.
“Skateboard parks don’t belong in shopping centers, they belong in parks,” he said.
Soboroff said he is more than willing to help the city relocate the skate park, and will donate funds to do so.
The city has been planning for this for several years. In 2008 council members voted to create an account to gather funds for a new skate park. Papa Jack’s is the only skate park in Malibu. People have complained that the park is lacking in quality, and have also said that it doesn’t belong in a commercial area.
Mayor Jefferson Wagner said there are several possibilities to deal with an immediate move of the skate park, suggesting a temporary one at Malibu Bluffs Park. He also mentioned two acres of land that has been promised to the city from the La Paz developers as a possible site.
Soboroff, who said he is “sensitive to the fact that Malibu would like to have a skate park,” said if the majority of the council wants to delay the process of relocation he is more than willing to work with them. However, he stressed the importance of moving forward with the development and Environmental Impact Review for the shopping center development, which would take about four years.