Ideas to help Malibu’s small businesses survive ranging from limiting chain stores to providing financial incentives to increasing development allowances are discussed at a town hall meeting. See the special Shop Local section on page A7 for companion story.
By Paul Sisolak / Special to The Malibu Times
A town hall gathering sponsored by city officials last Thursday opened up a dialogue between local residents and business people over a proposed formula retail ordinance that could limit the number of chain stores in Malibu and permanently reshape its commercial sector.
The special meeting of ZORACES, the city’s Zoning Ordinance Revisions and Code Enforcement Subcommittee, examined solutions that might better preserve independent, mom-and-pop stores struggling to compete with their corporate, designer and brand name neighbors, including a rent control system and other incentives that could level the playing field.
There were several “us versus them” moments during the meeting, pitting those supporting restrictions on large businesses against those who believe that a retail law would eliminate the right to free enterprise in Malibu.
Some people spoke in complete support of adopting a new ordinance, claiming that chain stores have been slowly pushing out Malibu’s local retailers and ruining the city’s bucolic character. Local government, they said, should intervene.
“I think there needs to be a level of accountability on the elected officials and that they sit with every person who wants to open a business in town, to make sure it’s consistent with the general plan,” resident Susan Stiffelman said. “We want to preserve the rural beauty of the place we live in. It reflects the wishes of the people who live here.”
Another woman, who said the city’s general plan describes Malibu as “rustic rural,” alluded to the notion that Malibu is undergoing somewhat of a commercial identity crisis. City government is unsure, she said, if it wants to retain its small town character or take part in what’s been coined as a “Rodeo Driving” of the city to bigger retail interests. She said other cities across California, including Sausalito, Ojai, Solvang and Carpinteria, have successfully adopted similar retail ordinances.
“We’re at a crossroads here and we have to decide, as a city, what direction we’re going in,” she said.
Others disagreed, claiming this is an exaggeration. Developer Michael Koss, a partner in the Malibu Country Mart, said there are 386 locally owned businesses in Malibu, and only 30 chain stores. This was confirmed during a break in the meeting by Rebekah Evans, director of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce.
Staying in line with its philosophy of fostering all business in Malibu, the chamber has remained against the idea of a citywide retail ordinance. Last month, Evans angered supporters of the proposed ordinance after she sent out an email to chamber members urging them to oppose the legislation. Evans later issued an apology.
Don Schmitz, the chamber’s vice chair of governmental affairs, spoke cautiously at Thursday’s meeting.
“If the city can bring forward resources to promote business, that’s fantastic,” Schmitz said. “What we are convinced of at the chamber of commerce … is that you cannot legislate economic prosperity.”
John Mazza, chair of the city’s Planning Commission, suggested officials could make use of issuing conditional use permits, or CUPs, to diversify Malibu’s retail character. CUPs given to new businesses, he said, could offset the concentration of too many corporate retailers in a single shopping center or block.
“At least in that way, government can decide there are too many clothing stores here, we don’t want another one, or another T-shirt shop,” he said.
Koss later spoke against that suggestion, as well, saying that the CUP process is bureaucratic and has failed in places like Laguna Beach.
“They are arbitrarily deciding who does business in your community, and it’s politics,” he said.
Arlington Forbes, co-owner of Canvas boutique and gallery, said governmental regulation of retail practices could also hurt the small businesses it is trying to protect.
“Small business is nimble. It’s a small boat in the water,” he said. “When you create legislation that prohibits a certain type of agency … maybe small business gets a little sluggish. And I don’t think that’s in the best interest of customers.”
David Resnick of the Malibu Bay Company said mom-and-pop stores need more incentives to stay alive.
“The low-margin businesses … can’t afford to be here,” he said. “Providing some sort of economic incentive for them, I think, is the way to go.”
Norm Haynie suggested that city officials ease up on their standards of a 0.15 floor-area ratio for commercial entities. In Malibu, for every 1,000 square feet of land, property owners can only build out 150 feet worth of leased retail space. Expanding that ratio to allow for more floor space, combined with a rent control system, could help local retailers compete head-to-head with bigger businesses. Haynie suggested capping commercial rent at 75 percent after one year.
Resident Lynn Norton didn’t believe the idea would benefit retailers much. A rent control system, she said, and no amount of added square footage, won’t offset the troubles some mom-and-pop businesses incurred when their rents tripled, forcing them to close. Some reports have claimed that up to 50 local businesses have fled Malibu due to rising rents.
“I don’t understand what the motivation is to have a lot of vacancies and then just write it off,” Norton said.
Leslie Goldstein, owner of Pinnacle clothing store, said keeping local residents loyal to small businesses, not escalating rents, is the problem. She and others suggested that the city abandon any legislative measures and concentrate on adopting a “Buy Local” campaign.
“We … try to carry what you want, but you need to stop and tell us. If you’re not staying here, you’re not supporting us,” she said. “If you don’t, we will be gone.
Goldstein said Malibu’s booming tourist industry could be harming small businesses because they don’t visit the city to buy goods from local vendors.
“It’s not that the rents are too expensive, it’s that the people who don’t live here don’t stay to shop,” she said.
“I think when you talk about a mom-and-pop business, it’s not just a store, it’s an investment in the community,” Forbes said.
Mayor John Sibert, also a ZORACES member, said the council would hopefully discuss the formula retail ordinance sometime in August. He asked for the public to submit their comments before that time so ZORACES could meet further on the issue.
“We’ve got to do what we can to best serve the populous of this town,” Sibert said. “I don’t think it’s going to help to point fingers and call names. But it will help us to offer suggestions.”
A similar formula retail ordinance was previously envisioned by Malibu City Council member Pamela Conley Ulich in 2009, but was voted down by her colleagues before it could get on a ballot.