The Malibu Planning Commission on Monday put owners and management of The Ranch at Solstice Canyon on watch, stating that they have three months to clean up their act or face the chance their conditional use permit (CUP) could be revoked.
According to senior planner Richard Mollica, The Ranch at Solstice Canyon, the new restaurant that replaced BeauRivage after it burned in 2012, has been out of CUP compliance for several reasons.
Solstice Canyon is accused of expanding its serving area to tables that are not part of the permitted seating, having a lighting plan that does not meet dark skies compliance, having signage that does not meet the sign ordinance and having a roof with two high-contrast colors that is not up to code.
In response to these complaints, Commissioner John Mazza suggested restaurant management should have three months to “fix all these violations” — or else.
“I know revocation of a CUP is a serious thing, but the way I look at this, I know Steve’s back there running it, but up until this point, from the very first day, there was no compliance,” Mazza said of Malibu Roadhouse Partners LLC new managing member Steve Dahlberg, who spoke at the meeting in defense of the restaurant.
“I think we need to review it when the new manager has a chance to get it up to snuff,” Mazza added.
“Do you think that would be a fair motion?” Commissioner Mikke Pierson asked Dahlberg.
“I think it’s very fair,” Dahlberg replied.
The Commission voted unanimously 4-0 to allow three months for The Ranch at Solstice Canyon to come into compliance. Chair John Brotman did not attend Monday’s meeting.
Mollica laid out the many complaints planners have against the restaurant.
“Staff has observed that seating is taking place in an area that was not identified for serving and/or seating,” Mollica said, “based on observances by a staff member who was visiting the site.”
As for the lighting plan, Mollica said management is halfway there, but there’s no indication of when work will be done.
“We have half of an application,” Mollica said, “we need some additional information before we can approve that lighting plan.”
One bright spot for Solstice Canyon was that its roof, which has been out of compliance since the terra cotta roof from BeauRivage was removed, was recently repainted and is now no longer on the list of staffers’ complaints.
“In addition to painting the roof, I submitted a revised site plan to Richard [Mollica],” Dahlberg said. According to the new plan, Solstice Canyon seeks to keep its sign on the east side of the building.
Commissioners did not reply to this request.
In addition, according to Dahlberg, the seating issues have also been taken care of.
“The tables on the outside of the patio have all been removed and are all in compliance with what … should be acceptable to staff,” Dahlberg said.
A final issue for city staffers is the onsite sewer, plans for which have stalled out according to Dahlberg, but which they will be tackling soon.
“We’re behind,” Dahlberg admitted, adding, “we’re attacking it, we understand it, we’re ready to go on it and we will proceed diligently.”
Staffers and commissioners will meet again in July to assess the progress of The Ranch at Solstice Canyon and determine whether a CUP revocation may be in order.
“This sounds promising, but perhaps we’ll wait and see,” Interim Planning Director Bonnie Blue said.