Malibu Civic Center Complex Is for Sale

• Farmers Market Fray Triggers Disclosure

BY BILL KOENEKER

The fate of a local farmers market became more complicated this week when it was revealed that the Los Angeles County government complex known at the Civic Center, where the event is held, is for sale.

Sale negotiations were made public when Debra Bianco, the president of Cornucopia, the organization that has operated a farmers market there, was speaking at this week’s city council session and was asked by Councilmember Sharon Barovsky about the county’s willingness to allow the group to use its parking lot.

“I don’t mean to sandbag you, Debbie, but I was told the county is selling the building and won’t issue a lease,” Barovsky said. “I am interested in what they are doing with the property.”

Plans for the county selling all or some of the complex have been hush-hush, though there have been rumors of discussions about what the county might do with the complex that housed the former city hall and sheriff’s station.

It turns out that the city has been in closed-door negotiations with the county for months over the sale of the property, but never made any information public.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s press deputy Joel Bellman said the county was asked by Malibu city officials and the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees if there was county interest in selling the Civic Center buildings.

“We didn’t solicit the offer. We are evaluating it and trying to get an appraisal,” Bellman said, adding the county is considering whether it wants to move forward or even if the sale is feasible. “It was a general expression, not a formal proposal,” he noted.

Bellman said there are still many questions about the costs, what a sale would yield for the county, and if the county would continue to require a part of the complex, or could sell it all. He said he did not know if the talks include the courthouse.

Municipal officials were much more tight-lipped. “I can’t confirm if the buildings are for sale. It is definitely a property negotiation,” said City Manager Jim Thorsen, who has been designated the property negotiator on the closed session agenda item.

The city manager said he was not at liberty to discuss any aspects of the executive sessions, adding, “I can’t say if anything will come out of the negotiations. I can’t talk about it.”

Cornucopia organizers released to the press a letter from Carlos Brea in the county’s chief administrative office dated Jan. 30 that was sent to Thorsen, stating, “The county continues to be willing to grant a license for the use of the property as a weekend farmers market [but] will only consider license applicants that have applied for and have been granted a Conditional Use Permit by the city to operate a farmers market at the Malibu Civic Center.”

However, Thorsen told the city council, “We don’t have a letter.” Council members said they have never seen such a letter, and Barovsky asked Bianco to fax a copy to the council. But, after the meeting, Thorsen acknowledged receipt of the letter, but said he did not consider it a letter of intent.

Asked if the letter might lead observers to deduce the negotiations are not going well, given the county’s future intentions, Thorsen responded, “You can deduce whatever you want.”

The letter also states that the new requirements imposed by the city’s resolution of its zoning snafu that forced the market to close has made it “difficult to coordinate our licensing process with the CUP requirement.”

The county letter also indicates they were aware of what they called “unsolicited proposals from various other farmers markets operators, indicating that the city requires evidence of a license agreement with the county before considering a CUP application.”

Cornucopia and a Southland farmers market operator, John Edwards, have applied for a CUP from the city and planners say they are processing both permits.