Public outcry results in a city council vote to examine a wide range of policies to protect local businesses.
By Knowles Adkisson / The Malibu Times
The Monday Malibu City Council meeting witnessed a dramatic resurgence of the age-old debate over the course of the city’s commercial development. Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich’s proposal of a formula retail ordinance that would limit the number of chain stores in Malibu invited an outpouring of public comments from the business community who are opposed to such an ordinance, and from supporters who are frustrated with the disappearance of mom-and-pop stores in the face of soaring commercial rents.
Following comments from more than 20 speakers, the council voted unanimously to consider a wide range of policies, including a formula retail ordinance, to protect small businesses in a series of upcoming meetings of the Zoning Ordinance Revisions and Code Enforcement Subcommittee, or ZORACES.
Point Dume resident Janet Flora Katz argued that the recent controversy about the eviction of Trancas Gardens Nursery was a “tipping point” in the discussion of Malibu’s commercial landscape. The group, Save Trancas Nursery, has gathered more than 2,000 signatures from residents opposing the nursery’s eviction.
“Everybody I know at some point has mentioned moving out of Malibu,” Katz said. “They’ve given up, they’re defeated. They think the developers have won and there’s nothing left. Big money billionaires have bought our city.”
But Michael Koss, owner of the Malibu Country Mart shopping center, vigorously protested the ordinance.
“We are already burdened with a severe recession,” Koss said, “and commercial property owners are struggling with the highest percentage of vacancy in Malibu’s history.”
Noting that previous city councils had dismissed two similar proposals in recent years, Koss argued that the presence of chain stores in Malibu was a reflection of their success and acceptance by the general public. Koss said an ordinance resulting in their departure would “cause local businesses extreme financial hardship.”
Several small business owners spoke in favor of the ordinance. Michael Osterman, owner of Pacific Coast Greens, said his business of 19 years would go under “within a year” if a competing grocery such as Whole Foods came to Malibu. The wife of Levon Akopyan, who owns European Shoe Repair in the Malibu Village shopping center, said her husband is facing a three-fold increase in rent from the mall’s owners that may force him to leave.
Supporters of the measure noted that soaring commercial rent costs had resulted in the departure of more than 50 small businesses in recent years. But opponents countered that the cost of building in Malibu gave landlords no other option but to charge high rents.
“The bottom line is, it takes a great deal of money to build a building in this area, and you have to find a way to pay the mortgage,” developer Norm Haynie said.
Mayor John Sibert said the underlying factors behind the disappearance of mom-and-pop stores were more complex than solely blaming the arrival of high-end chain stores. Sibert pointed to Malibu’s floor-area ratio of 0.15 for commercial properties, one of the most stringent in the country. That means that of every 1,000 square feet of land, a property owner may build only 150 square feet of retail rental space.
“That’s not very much,” Sibert said. “Landlords have to charge high rents to pay for their buildings.”
Rather than examine only a formula retail ordinance, Mayor Pro Tem Laura Rosenthal proposed the creation of an ad hoc committee that would explore a range of options to protect small businesses.
Councilmember Jefferson Wagner responded that an ad hoc committee would be inefficient, since its findings would ultimately still have to go through ZORACES, a city council subcommittee that examines zoning and code enforcement issues. Wagner suggested using ZORACES as a de facto ad hoc committee to save time. The rest of the council agreed, and voted unanimously to consider a wide range of policies to protect local businesses in a series of upcoming meetings of ZORACES.
The subcommittee meets on an as-needed basis, usually at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays, but council members suggested holding a series of meetings. The meetings are open to the public. The council also voted to conduct at least one town hall meeting to gather input from the community on how to protect small businesses.