MALIBU : Merchants Oppose Farmers Market Plan

A handful of Malibu merchants are fighting an effort to set up a farmers market in the city, asserting it would sap local businesses and cause traffic tie-ups and parking shortages.

The Ventura County Certified Farmers’ Market Assn. is working on a proposal to set up shop in Malibu every Friday for three hours. Among the sites being studied are Malibu Bluffs Park and the Civic Center area.

The association made a pitch to the City Council in January, but was instructed to work on the proposal with the city Parks and Recreation Department and the Chamber of Commerce. The council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the issue at the end of this month.

Leading the opposition is the Cosentino family, owners of a flower shop and two nurseries, and Mike Osterman, owner of Pacific Coast Greens, an organic grocery store. Malibu merchants, they argue, have already suffered in the wake of fire and floods in recent months.

“This is not a Malibu farmers market or a little-house-on-the-prairie, quiet kind of thing,” said Marco Cosentino, one of five children of Joseph and Jo Jo Cosentino, who began selling produce from a cart on Pacific Coast Highway and Las Flores Canyon Road 20 years ago.

“They’re bringing big business to Malibu with farmers who make a killing and leave the merchants holding an empty bag,” he said. “We have 5,000 homes here. Can Malibu support local business and the farmers market?”

Karen Wetzel, business manager of the Ventura County farmers market association, argues that it can. The market, composed of 25 farmers including flower growers, would be open to Malibu farmers, though Wetzel acknowledges that the city is no agrarian bastion. Three local farmers have expressed interest, she said.

“You’re talking about one day a week for three hours, so only some people can take advantage of it,” said Wetzel, pointing out that farmers would be charged a fee to use city space. “You are not going to service all residents’ needs from one farmers market. Buying a vine-ripened tomato usually gets people thinking about buying good quality produce at other local businesses.”

Osterman says farmers market vendors will have unfair advantages. “When I say a product is organic, I have to have it certified by a national organization, and they don’t have to do that,” he said.

He also contends that the market, which draws up to 3,500 shoppers to its other locations, would attract a glut of people from outside Malibu.

“The traffic and the parking would be a nightmare,” said Osterman. “All we have is one access road: PCH.”

The council appears poised to give the market a trial run.

Said Councilman Walt Keller: “We could let local merchants set up booths at the market, of course, we would have to charge them rent. I would like to try it for three months and see if it cuts into (local) business.”

Mayor Carolyn Van Horn said business was suffering from a downturn but could benefit from the people the farmers market would draw.

“I was in Davis recently on business and they were having their farmers market,” she said. “At first the chamber was against it, but it’s been 17 years and now they love it.”