Council to Act on Placing of Retail Formula Ban on Ballot

BY BILL KOENEKER

Should the voters get to decide whether the Malibu City Council should draft an ordinance regulating retail formula stores?
That is what the council is scheduled to discuss at its meeting next week. Whether to place on the April 2010 ballot a measure to let the voters decide if the council should pass a ban or not.
Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich has pushed for such regulation for over three years, going so far as to prepare an ordinance herself.
The proposal was heard by the council in 2007, which initially sent it to committee and subsequently called for the proposal to be included on a priority list for future zone text amendments.
Subsequent to that, the measure, while still in committee, was recommended for voter consideration before it made its way to the planning commission and council.
Proponents of the ordinance, including Conley Ulich, suggest something is needed to allow Malibu to keep its small town atmosphere and cite the city’s General Plan mission statement as authority for keeping Malibu’s “special natural and rural setting.”
When the measure was initially proposed, it met with a firestorm of criticism from shopping center owners and other real estate interests. who attributed many other factors to the demise of mom and pop stores rather than chain stores.
One of the arguments by opponents was that it was that low floor area ratio restrictions on commercial development resulted in increased price per square feet for commercial space that chased away mom and pop stores.
Malibu already has a restrictive process for commercial development and additional regulations on the free market enterprise should be avoided, according to critics of a ban.
What should also be considered, these critics said, is the negative effect on franchises that are owned by Malibu residents should be considered if the ban is intended to promote local businesses.
Opponents say that the needs and wants of the shopper should be considered. Chains may be able to survive the economic climate and at the same time offer a diversity of products and services.
Committee members heard over and over again that shoppers and the community should decide and the issue should be placed on the ballot for the voters.