The City of Malibu has ordered the operator of the Malibu Farmers Market to immediately cease operations at Legacy Park, citing unresolved public safety and permitting concerns after months of trying to find a compliant path forward for the market.
The city said it worked extensively with the market operator to accommodate continued operations after the market moved from its originally approved site at the Los Angeles County Library parking lot on Civic Center Way. But officials said the Legacy Park site was never designed, approved or intended as a permanent home for the market.
Despite those efforts, concerns over public safety, limited parking, access to neighboring businesses and compliance with the market's Conditional Use Permit remain unresolved, the city said. Officials said the issue has taken on added urgency during the summer season, when increased visitor traffic heightens safety risks at a site not built to handle the additional vehicle and pedestrian activity. Weekend parking demand in the area is already exceptionally high, and market vendor vehicles and booths occupy nearly 40% of available public parking in the Civic Center area, further limiting access for visitors and nearby businesses.
"This is not about shutting down a farmers market that our community values," City Manager Joe Irvin said. "We have worked to make the current arrangement work, but we also have a responsibility to protect public safety and ensure City requirements are applied fairly. We are committed to working with the market to get them back to their approved home on the County lot. The City has offered to host the market in an approved location outside of City Hall while its permanent license is processed by L.A. County."
The market operator has been notified that operations at Legacy Park must stop immediately. The city said it remains supportive of the farmers market and is willing to continue working toward a suitable, properly permitted location.
The market operated free of charge for more than 16 years in the county-owned Civic Center lot near the library. That arrangement ended as construction of the $25 million Santa Monica College Malibu satellite campus encroached on the space. By late 2022, a fence had gone up, cutting the lot roughly in half, and the city issued urgency ordinances allowing temporary parking while relocating the market to Legacy Park in January 2023.
Legacy Park, however, carries a deed restriction from the city's 2002 purchase of the land from investor Jerry Perenchio barring commercial activity. Perenchio's son, John Perenchio, allowed temporary use of the park during the campus construction but later declined further exceptions. Officials have said releasing the restriction would require agreement from all six original parties to the deed.
When the city's temporary permits lapsed in October 2023, each market held at Legacy Park began counting against a six-event annual cap, and the city fined organizers thousands of dollars for continuing to operate there. The county later approved the market's return to the Civic Center lot, but paperwork delays and disputes over space stalled the move. In February 2025, the county paused use of the Civic Center lot altogether to stage Palisades Fire recovery operations, pushing the market back to Legacy Park.