There is a reason why the cliché called “growing pains” has the two words connected in one phrase. Growth implies change and change is never easy to accept or adopt. However, there is pain attached.

In this particular case, the pain is for local businesses in Malibu that are finding it more and more difficult to cope with the ever-escalating costs of leasing retail spaces and, as such, are watching national chains take over their territory. Activists are coming to their defense and, in turn, are putting pressure on the Malibu City Council to implement an ordinance that would cap the square footage of chain stores at shopping centers at 20 percent. (See the Business Journal article “Binding Chains?” in the April 2 issue.)

But while the activist movement in the Malibu community may at first glance invoke similarities with an “Occupy” movement of sorts, as in the 99 percent (community) versus the 1 percent (developers and property owners), it has really nothing to do with the Occupy Wall Street concept, for that was all about wealth staying at the top and not “trickling down” to the 99 percent. In contrast, when Malibu’s “growth pains” are settled, it will result in wealth “trickling down” to the community.

The proposed ordinance is not a good idea for anybody and here’s why:

For property owners, it is a limiting formula. It sets a dangerous precedent if laws and regulations can decree to existing property owners what they can or cannot do with their property. For the community, such laws could result in limiting the possibilities as to what is available for purchase or consumption and could also have a rippling impact on tourism, since tourists traditionally take shopping and dining very seriously, indeed, and definitely make it a part of their overall enjoyment of a beach “village.”

Large retailers have a methodology for bringing stores and restaurants to the marketplace that follows market demands. Restaurants, as an example, are a very important element because they extend shopping hours, as do movie theaters, giving retailers the opportunity to stay open later. Good retail is going to help restaurants and great restaurants are going to help retail. They need to co-exist and they help each other. In effect, it is a symbiotic relationship. Regional or national retailers understand this and are willing to do their part to bring the right balance of tenants.

The proposed ordinance that would cut 20 percent of the square footage of the larger retailers to allow for local tenants (at a lower leasing rate) would go against any concept of a free market society. Even more disconcerting is the fact that this could set a precedent for government’s manipulation of supply and demand, and intervening in the people’s right to choose – developers and property owners as well as consumers. This could be just the beginning of increasing government intervention that may result in a snowball effect.

From a bigger-picture perspective, should such a commercial diversification ordinance get approved, it would infringe on the benefits that large retailers bring to a community, such as increased employment opportunities and additional sales tax revenues. Much needed tax dollars can be put toward adding to the vibrancy of the community, as in beautifying the “village,” or enhancing Malibu’s spectacular 27-mile-long coastline – all of which is of greater importance and much more lasting than dictating which restaurants or retailers should exist in Malibu.

Living modestly

Although Malibu is a wealthy enclave with $10 million homes, it’s also a place where many people live modestly. The retailers are coming to Malibu because there is demand for this up and down the economic scale. Although activists are proclaiming their defense of local tenants, the reality is that there has not been enough support of local businesses to help afford them to stay.

Malibu is an area that has great growth potential. It can easily expand without losing its character. Growth can first come from some of the outlining parcels that currently form downtown. Competition from restaurants or supermarkets, services and nonservices, like everywhere else, is very healthy. The more critical mass a city like Malibu can provide, the more benefits can be reaped for all the right reasons – employment, housing stock, tourism, all of that. These greatly outweigh the negatives of what some people are proclaiming as the decline of their community.

Allowing property owners to do what they do best is clearly a win-win situation.

Robert Cohen is president of the Southern California office of RKF, a national retail leasing firm. He lives in Malibu.