City orders Malibu Farmers Market out of Legacy Park as years-long location issue comes to a head
By Hayley Mattson · Sat Aug 22 2026
After weeks of work toward returning the longtime market to its former County-owned location, the City draws a firm line on Legacy Park operations
After more than two decades as a Sunday gathering place in Malibu, the Malibu Farmers Market is once again facing uncertainty over where it will operate after the City of Malibu ordered the market to immediately cease operations at Legacy Park. The City's action, announced Friday, Aug. 21, brought to a head a complicated issue involving the City, Los Angeles County and the Cornucopia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates the market. But interviews conducted Saturday by The Malibu Times with Farmers Market founder Debra Bianco, Malibu Mayor Pro Tem Steve Uhring and City Manager Joe Irvin, along with emails and documents obtained by the newspaper, show a situation more complicated than a simple refusal by the market to relocate.
The records show that Cornucopia had been actively working since at least July to return the market to its former location on County-owned property near the Malibu Library. At the same time, City officials say the market had been given weeks of notice that it could no longer remain at Legacy Park and that unresolved safety, parking and permitting issues ultimately forced the City to act.
All three parties agree on one fundamental point: they want the Malibu Farmers Market to continue.
Where they differ is over how the situation reached this point and whether Friday's immediate action was necessary when efforts to return the market to the County lot appeared to be moving forward.
The Malibu Farmers Market's history stretches back to 2000.
The Cornucopia Foundation was established in 1998 by Malibu residents Debra Bianco and Remy O'Neill with a mission centered on environmental education and sustainability. The organization established the Malibu Farmers Market two years later, in part to help support its environmental programs.
Over the years, the Sunday market became a familiar gathering place for Malibu residents, bringing together local shoppers, farmers, food vendors, and other businesses.
Its regulatory history, however, has not always been simple.
The market stopped operating for a period in 2005 after additional City permitting and a lease agreement with Los Angeles County were determined to be necessary. Cornucopia subsequently worked to return the market, eventually establishing its longtime location on County-owned property in the Civic Center area near the Malibu Library.
For years, the County parking lot served as the market's Sunday home. That changed when construction of the Santa Monica College Malibu campus and other activity on the County property reduced the area available for the market. The Farmers Market was eventually allowed to relocate across Civic Center Way to Legacy Park as a temporary accommodation. The park setting proved popular with shoppers and vendors, but Legacy Park was never approved as the market's permanent location.
That distinction is now at the center of the dispute.
Temporary move becomes a long-term issue
By 2023 and 2024, the market's continued operation at Legacy Park had become an issue at City Hall. The City's position is that the Farmers Market's Conditional Use Permit (CUP) does not authorize the current Legacy Park operation and that restrictions attached to Legacy Park prohibit commercial activity on the property. The goal for some time has been to return the Farmers Market to the County property. That effort was further complicated by the 2025 fires and the County'ssubsequent use of the parking lot for disaster-related staging.
Correspondence obtained by The Malibu Times shows that Cornucopia told County officials its understanding was that the return had been delayed while the lot was being used for disaster staging, including by the National Guard, and that sandbags and related materials had only recently been removed. By July, Cornucopia was actively attempting to renew its authorization to use the property.
On July 16, the organization sent documents to Los Angeles County and asked what additional steps were necessary. County Senior Real Property Agent Narine Hakobyan responded that the previous license had expired in May 2026. Cornucopia followed up again July 21, confirming that it wanted to renew the license so the market could return to the County lot. On July 22, Hakobyan responded that the County CEO's office would consider the renewal request and respond once a decision had been made.
On July 28, Cornucopia again contacted the County seeking the status of the request and asking whether any documents, payments, or approvals remained outstanding.
"We are prepared to respond immediately to any remaining requirements," the organization wrote.
The County responded the following day that because the previous license had expired, a new license was required. The County said its standard processing time could take up to 60 days and potentially longer if additional departmental review was required.
That timeline created another problem: what to do with the Farmers Market while the County processed the new license.
City says enforcement began in July
Irvin told The Malibu Times Saturday that Friday's announcement should not be viewed as a sudden decision to shut down the market.
According to Irvin, the market's operation outside its approved location has been a compliance issue since approximately 2023. He said formal City enforcement began in mid-July when the market was notified that it needed to leave Legacy Park by approximately Aug. 1. The City subsequently allowed additional time while efforts continued to move the market, he said.
“I think the record shows that,” Irvin said, noting that the initial deadline was Aug. 1 and the City had allowed the market to remain through Aug. 22. “The City provided ample time.”
For Irvin, the issue comes down primarily to three concerns: compliance with restrictions governing Legacy Park, public safety, and the City's responsibility to enforce its regulations consistently.
Irvin said the configuration at Legacy Park creates pedestrian and vehicle conflicts and leaves portions of vendor booths exposed to traffic without the protections that would exist in a parking lot specifically configured for the market.
He also pointed to the amount of Civic Center parking occupied by market operations.
The City's Friday announcement said market vendor vehicles and booths occupy nearly 40% of available public parking in the Civic Center area, which officials say reduces access for other visitors and nearby businesses. Irvin said he enjoys the Farmers Market personally and emphasized that the City's action is about its location, not whether Malibu should have a farmers market.
"It's not like we're telling her she couldn't do it," Irvin agreed during the interview. "You just can't do it at Legacy Park."
Uhring becomes involved in finding a solution
Uhring offers a different perspective on how close the parties were to resolving the issue. He told The Malibu Times that he became directly involved in helping Bianco and City and County officials develop a workable plan to return the market to the County property.
According to Uhring, he worked with Bianco on revisions to the site plan and believed the major issues had been resolved.
"I got a site plan design that was approved by the County, that was approved by the City, approved by Deb," Uhring said, adding that he believed the plan had been settled by the previous Thursday.
Uhring also said he had seen Bianco actively pursuing the County authorization rather than resisting the move.
"She's been aggressively trying to make that move," Uhring said.
That assertion is supported, at least in part, by the July email correspondence reviewed by The Malibu Times, which documents repeated efforts by Cornucopia to renew its County license and determine what additional requirements were necessary.
Uhring credited the City with helping address the initial County timeline, which he said appeared likely to take approximately 60 days.
"We got all the work done," Uhring said. "We're just waiting for the County to say go, and she can move over there."
Irvin disputes that the process had reached that point.
He told The Malibu Times that additional modifications to the site plan still needed to be completed and accepted before the County permit could be issued.
"There were some site plan changes that needed to be accomplished, and we still weren't receiving those modifications and acceptance from them," Irvin said.
Later in the interview, Irvin described the remaining issue as relatively small, involving moving a row of tents from one parking aisle around the side of the building to maintain emergency vehicle access.
Irvin said the City ultimately concluded that allowing operations at Legacy Park to continue while waiting for those remaining issues to be resolved would simply prolong the situation.
"If you don't take action, it's just going to keep lingering," he said.
Bianco says County offered interim path
Bianco told The Malibu Times that she has agreed to return to the County property and does not view the County location itself as the dispute. According to Bianco, Los Angeles County communicated to the City that it was willing to allow the market to return through temporary Sunday-by-Sunday authorization while the longer-term licensing paperwork was completed, and the City relayed that information to her.
The Malibu Times has not independently obtained that County communication.
The County correspondence reviewed confirms Cornucopia was actively seeking a new license, but the most recent direct County email available to The Malibu Times, dated July 29, states that a new license was required and remained under review.
Uhring similarly said his understanding was that the parties had made substantial progress toward getting the market back onto the County property. The disagreement, therefore, appears to center less on the market's ultimate destination than on whether all the conditions for its return had actually been completed — and what should happen in the meantime.
City Hall offered as temporary solution
This week, the City proposed another option. On Aug. 20, the City approved a temporary use permit allowing the Farmers Market to operate at City Hall for one day on Sunday, Aug. 23.
Under the City's approved plan, the market would operate in the south parking lot at City Hall, while the north parking lot would be used for event parking.
City staff determined as part of the permit process that the property was adequate in size and shape to accommodate the temporary event and that the surrounding streets and parking could support the anticipated activity.
Irvin described City Hall as a "stopgap" intended to allow the market to continue operating while the County location was finalized.
Bianco declined to move the market there this weekend.
But correspondence obtained by The Malibu Times shows her objection was not simply a refusal to leave Legacy Park.
In an Aug. 21 email to City staff, Bianco began by thanking the City for its assistance.
"First, I want to sincerely thank you and the City for all of your help and efforts in working toward safely returning the Malibu Farmers Market to the County parking lot," she wrote.
Bianco said she had serious concerns about temporarily moving the market behind City Hall and believed the location presented operational challenges that could significantly disrupt the market.
She instead asked the City to allow the market to remain temporarily at Legacy Park while the County issues were resolved or to permit the market to temporarily use the City's Chili Cook-Off property. Timing was also an issue.
Bianco said the request came at the end of the day Thursday, that the market office was closed Friday, and that two of her primary employees were out of town.
"Changing locations at this point is an impossible request for me, my remaining staff, and all of our vendors," she wrote.
Bianco was not alone in suggesting the Chili Cook-Off property as an alternative. Uhring told The Malibu Times he proposed the site to City staff as a temporary location that he believed would allow the market to operate without remaining at Legacy Park.
In an email Saturday, Uhring reiterated that he had suggested the property Friday and said the site remained empty Saturday morning.
"A move to the [Chili Cook-Off] property would have been easy, acceptable to everyone and would have avoided this whole situation," Uhring said. The City, however, proceeded with the City Hall alternative.
What triggered the decision now?
Uhring also questions why the situation escalated this week when, from his perspective, the parties were close to resolving the County return. He said Irvin called him at approximately 7:30 Monday morning following the previous Sunday's Farmers Market and told him the City had received numerous complaints. Uhring said he repeatedly asked who had complained but was not given specific names.
"I don't know who everybody is," Uhring recalled telling Irvin.
Uhring said he has served four years on the Planning Commission and six years on the City Council and does not recall businesses approaching him to complain that the Farmers Market was negatively affecting them. He described the City'sdecision to force an immediate stop at Legacy Park while the County relocation was progressing as an "unforced error."
Irvin rejected the suggestion that an unidentified individual or outside threat forced the City's hand. He acknowledged hearing concerns from council members and commissioners regarding the market's compliance, but said the ultimate decision was his.
"At the end of the day, this decision stops with me," Irvin said.
He said information and concerns come to the City from numerous directions, but maintained that his decision was based on the existing regulations, deed restrictions and public-safety conditions he observed.
Irvin also placed the Farmers Market action within a broader effort he intends to make toward code enforcement in Malibu. He said one of his assessments during his first months as city manager is that the City needs to more consistently enforce codes already on its books. If enforcing those regulations creates community concern, Irvin said, the appropriate response is for the City Council to consider whether the underlying policy should be changed — not for staff to simply decline to enforce it.
City draws a line
By Friday, Irvin said he believed the City had reached the point where it needed to take definitive action.
"This is not about shutting down a farmers market that our community values," Irvin said in the City's announcement."We have worked to make the current arrangement work, but we also have a responsibility to protect public safety and ensure City requirements are applied fairly."
He said the City remains committed to getting the market back to its approved County location.
During Saturday's interview, Irvin also acknowledged Bianco's concern that interruptions and sudden location changes could cause farmers and vendors to leave for other markets.
"I think that's a concern that could be valid," he said.
But he maintained that the market had been given sufficient notice to address the situation and that the City could not continue allowing operations at Legacy Park while waiting for the County relocation to be finalized.
Irvin said the City remains ready to work with the County and Cornucopia to complete the move.
“We’re close,” he said, but added that from the City’s perspective, there was no more time to extend the temporary arrangement at Legacy Park.
What happens Sunday?
The immediate question is what happens to a Sunday tradition that has operated in Malibu for more than a quarter century.
Irvin was unequivocal when asked what would happen if vendors attempted to set up at Legacy Park Sunday.
"We are putting measures in place to prohibit it from happening," he told The Malibu Times.
For Bianco, the concern extends beyond losing a single Sunday.
Farmers and vendors depend on predictable locations and schedules, she said, and uncertainty can cause vendors to commit to other markets. She fears a disruption could have lasting consequences for an institution she has spent more than two decades building.
Uhring shares the concern and says Malibu, particularly following the fires, needs community gathering places.
For now, however, the parties remain separated by a dispute over timing and compliance even as they say they are moving toward the same destination. The documentary record shows Cornucopia had been pursuing its return to the County lot for weeks before Friday's announcement. The City says those efforts had not progressed quickly enough to justify continued operations at a location it considers unsafe and noncompliant.
Bianco says she is prepared to return to the County property.
Uhring says he believed the parties had effectively worked out the plan to get her there. And Irvin says the City wants the Farmers Market to survive — just not at Legacy Park.
After years of temporary arrangements and weeks of negotiations, all sides appear to agree on where the Malibu Farmers Market ultimately belongs.
The unresolved question is how quickly they can get it there — and what happens to the market until they do.
Editor’s Note: This is a developing story. The Malibu Times continues to review additional information and conduct interviews with those involved. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.