City Rules Stymie Another Try at a Farmers Market

• Market Chain Was Involved

BY BILL KOENEKER

Another effort to set up a farmers market in Malibu has apparently encountered roadblocks when the proponent of the project unveiled his plans for the new venture.
John Edwards, who is affiliated with California Certified Farmers Markets, was part of a pitch for a market that would be held where a Whole Foods Market is planned on undeveloped land next to the skate park in the Civic Center.
The pitch was made by Michael Besancon, the president of Whole Foods Southern Pacific Regional Office.
Writing to the mayor and city manager, Besancon confirmed that Whole Foods has entered into a lease with developer Gordon Eckstrand of Cross Creek Ventures for a market at that location.
“I am writing on behalf of California Certified Farmers Markets as they have asked permission to set up a farmers market there. Both Mr. Eckstrand and I have approved CCFM using the property on a limited and temporary basis before construction. Until Whole Foods Market can open we thought the Malibu residents would welcome and enjoy a farmer’s market. We hope that you will approve such an arrangement,” Besancon wrote.
Mayor Jeff Jennings acknowledged receiving the letter. “The short answer is anybody that wants to can apply. As far as I know, nobody has done that,” added the mayor.
However, Permits Services Manager Gail Sumpter said that changes made to the zoning laws for farmers markets now make a market at the commercially zoned site problematic.
The zoning law was changed last year to allow a market on land zoned Institutional.
Sumpter said it was the county parking lot at the library and court- house that is zoned Institutional where everyone wanted to have a farmers market that caused the law to be changed.
“The ZTA changed the uses in the Institutional zone,” said Sumpter, who added the Whole Foods site cannot have a farmers market because it is zoned Commercial.
The city official said there were three applicants for a farmers market but the applications have been “administratively withdrawn.”
The city and county during discussions tossed back and forth about whose jurisdiction should prevail for choosing an applicant. The city requires a Conditional Use Permit for operating a market. The permit requires the permission of the property owner as a condition for granting a CUP.
However, the county has indicated it would only give permission to the applicant who was successfully given a CUP.
The discussions, for a while, continued on the apparent Catch-22, but it appears that talks have come to a halt.
City Manager Jim Thorsen said it was not a matter of the negotiations coming to an end, but the priorities have changed in the discussions with the county on the site.
Those priorities changed when county officials announced they were entering into negotiations to sell a portion of the government complex to the college district. “If the county gave a long-term lease [for a farmers market] and continued negotiating a deal with the college, that could be a problem,” Thorsen added.
The city manager was referring to the discussions between the Santa Monica College District and county officials about the county selling the former sheriff’s station to the college district for a satellite campus.
All of the bureaucratic shuffle leaves Edwards frustrated.
“I just don’t understand. The city just doesn’t seem to want to allow a farmers market,” complained Edwards, whose group has been involved in dozens of markets across the Los Angeles region. He said he was not aware of the zoning issues and said it appeared the city has now made it more difficult for farmers market operators.
“I’ve heard so many people in Malibu want a farmers market, but it seems the city does not,” he said.