No fines or penalties apparently assessed according to public records
Turns out the amount high-end restaurant Nobu will pay the City of Malibu for causing chaos on Pacific Coast Highway on July 4 will roughly equal only the price for dinner for two at the glitzy establishment.
On July 4, one of the busiest days of the year on PCH, traffic came to a grinding halt when 700 guests converged on Nobu for a planned “White Party.” The event was unpermitted despite requiring a (TUP) Temporary Use Permit. A TUP is necessary for an event with more than 100 people in attendance.
After Nobu’s parking lot filled to capacity, guests resorted to illegally parking and abandoning their vehicles, limos, and party buses in the center median of PCH. A fiasco ensued with drivers unable to navigate through Malibu and traffic at a virtual standstill. Some drivers caught in the backup claim it was a two-hour traffic jam.
The city was inundated with calls about what many termed Nobu’s flagrant disregard for public safety. The Public Safety Commission also discussed the incident, trying to brainstorm ideas to contain parties and traffic jams that disrupt the normal flow of traffic.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Capt. Jennifer Seetoo met with Nobu management July 18 to discuss “expectations.” Seetoo reported the restaurant agreed to be proactive by alerting her department to big events. She also said earlier, “Nobu wants to work with us.”
City staff then met with Nobu management July 24. On July 26, the city issued a “Nobu Statement,” which read: “Nobu agreed to pay all associated Code Enforcement fines and will be charged for fines, penalties and administrative fees for an ‘After-the-Fact’ TUP.” However, the city indicated it would not be releasing the dollar amounts.
In its statement, the city cited two reasons for withholding from the public the fine amounts. The first reason stated was because it “is an active Code Enforcement case” but a search of open code enforcement cases on the City of Malibu website for the Nobu address from July 4 to Aug. 3 indicates that there are no open cases. The second reason the city cited was that Nobu could appeal the fines, apparently contradicting its earlier statement that Nobu had voluntarily agreed to the fines and providing no evidence suggesting Nobu was seeking to litigate the issue.
A public records request for all penalties, fines, and assessments relating to the July 4 incident revealed that on July 24 the city sent a commercial TUP statement to Nobu in the amount of $821. There was no indication that any portion of this amount represented fines or penalties. The $821 fee for the after-the-fact TUP was indicated as due within seven days. It remains unclear why the city refused to provide the press and public the total amount of fines, penalties, and assessments against the restaurant voluntarily, necessitating a public records act request to secure its release.
The cost of the TUP is a miniscule fraction of the Nobu Malibu location’s daily receipts. In 2018, Fortune Magazine reported that the Nobu empire anticipated revenue of $1 billion by 2023.
Malibu’s Public Safety Commission Chair Chris Frost commented earlier on businesses with deep pockets such as Nobu.
“Unless it’s a substantial fine, this isn’t going to affect the way they do business,” he said. “It would have to be a significant fine to get their attention.”
The former firefighter/EMT was angered that emergency vehicles would not have been able to access PCH July 4. Other residents have accused Nobu of not being a good neighbor.
The Malibu Times emailed Nobu management asking if it had a statement to make to the community and so far, has received no reply.