Parking in Malibu has been the intractable, 300-pound gorilla in the living room for years, particularly in places like Point Dume Village, where the number of available parking spaces stands in dismal contrast to the number of customers headed to one of the shopping center’s restaurants or other businesses. Local business owners say that while parking is a headache, it’s better than being slow and having fewer customers.
During the school year, the parking lot traffic snarls are often compounded by student traffic from Malibu High School, whose students use the proximity of Point Dume Plaza’s lower-cost dining establishments as an antidote to cafeteria food, and, more saliently, which can be grabbed in a 30-minute lunch period.
It’s also unknown what effect the closing of HOWS Market last year has had in terms of parking at the Point Dume shopping center, which some believe has made parking more difficult there.
A recent visit to the shopping center at lunchtime confirmed its reputation. A parking slot was found only after circling the lot a couple of times.
What this might mean for merchants and customers can vary.
Alan Berliner, a nearby resident who said he visits the center several times a week, lays the problem at the feet of shopping center management.
“I’m not crazy about how the plaza is run anyway,” Berliner said. “I usually have to wait for parking myself. If too many people do that, they’ll just go somewhere else. And if you can’t do business here, the stores will just go too.”
However, Hy Song, proprietor of Point Pizza, a favorite lunch spot for the younger set judging from the line snaking out the door, said parking and traffic have been issues since she came on site 20 years ago.
“During the week, it’s not as much of a problem, but Fridays are always very busy from 1:00 on,” Song said (Malibu High classes end at 12:35 on Fridays). “It’s not just students. They come with their parents too and, obviously, we welcome their business.”
Heather Carter, a daytime manager at the restaurant Savory,
acknowledged she had seen students descend en masse on the parking lot.
“Sometimes they even take their lunches and sit on our outside couches,” Carter said. “It’s not really their fault. They have to eat somewhere and there aren’t a lot of public tables.”
But Susie Sunwoo, owner of Point Dume Cleaners for 16 years, expressed frustration, saying that customers who need only five minutes to pick up laundry frequently complain about the inconvenience of spending more time looking for a parking space than they spend on their business in the center.
“At one time, I had one designated parking place limited to a few minutes,” Sunwoo said. “The mall owner is not interested in that now. But summer time is always busy and there is no school then. And busy is better than empty.”
Malibu High senior Christopher Karven-Veres was with a group of friends ordering slices of pizza. He said that he drives down from campus for lunch as often as he can get away.
“A lot of my friends come here,” he said. “It’s close and we can get back to school on time.”
Point Dume Village Property Manager Kathryn Natalia agreed that parking – or lack of its availability – was an ongoing issue.
“We’re simply underparked here,” she said. “We’ve looked into so many options because we realize it is a problem for our tenants. We’re even looking into a parking structure on site that wouldn’t impede views. It’s complicated but it can be done.”
Point Dume Village owner Zan Marquis has wrestled for a long time with the parking issue. A couple of years ago, he purchased a 10-acre site on the leeward side of Pacific Coast Highway and submitted a layout plan to the city for a 38-space supplemental parking lot.
However, because the area is a residential-zoned site, Marquis would have required zoning changes from the City Council and the California Coastal Commission. The proposal was not embraced by the Planning Commission and the plan was shelved.
“I hope all our tenants understand that we really are exploring every option and want to help them in this,” Natalia said. “We don’t want customers circling the parking lot.”