Malibu: Appeals Court Says No to Measure Limiting Chain Stores

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--A state appeals court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that Malibu can’t limit chain stores or force major projects to be put to a vote of the people.

The decision filed late Wednesday handed a victory to developers and for a project that would bring a Whole Foods store to the city. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that a lower court decision in December 2015 overturning Malibu’s Measure R should stand.

Measure R, which Malibu voters passed in November 2014, prohibits any shopping center in the city from leasing more than 30 percent of its space to chain stores and requires any commercial project of more than 20,000 square feet of retail, commercial or mixed-use space to be placed before voters. Actor-director Rob Reiner backed Measure R.

A group of Malibu property owners, including Steve Soboroff, developer of a retail center project near the civic center that would include a Whole Foods store, filed suit in April 2015 challenging the constitutionality of the law. The retail project has all of its entitlements except voter approval as required under Measure R. (Read the rest.) 

-cw