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Haylynn Conrad Newsletter — November 6, 2026
🌊 The Malibu Current with Councilmember Haylynn Conrad
📅 November 6, 2026
Hello, Malibu,
Somewhere between the last trick-or-treater and the first ballot drop, a brand-new ribbon came down at Cross Creek Ranch. This week I had the joy of joining the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the opening of The Shop by Wheat at 23465 Civic Center Way, and I can tell you there is nothing like a ribbon cutting to remind you that this town is always planting something new, even in a season of storms, counts, and construction cones.
That was only one thread of a full week: Election Day came and went with ballots still being tallied, the Planning Commission worked through two items I flagged for you last Friday, and the clocks fell back just in time to make every PCH commute a headlights-on affair. Let's get into it.
🛍️ Economic Development: A New Ribbon on Civic Center Way
🔹 Welcome, The Shop by Wheat: This week we celebrated the opening of The Shop by Wheat in Cross Creek Ranch, a boutique at 23465 Civic Center Way curating clothing and accessories that feel unmistakably Malibu. Seventeen years ago I was the newcomer here, and I have never forgotten how it feels to bet on this town. Every new storefront is someone making that same bet, and after an October of fire warnings, rainstorms, and road work, that kind of confidence deserves a crowd.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Our local businesses carried a brutal fall, and the strongest signal we can send back is foot traffic. If you have not wandered Cross Creek Ranch lately, make it a weekend stop, and if you own or manage a Malibu business, the City wants to hear from you: email BusinessSupport@MalibuCity.org to flag an upcoming opening, ask for support, or just introduce yourself.
🔹 One heads-up for deliveries and commutes: PCH paving continues on weekdays from 6 AM to 3 PM between Malibu Lagoon and the county line, weather permitting, and fiber crews remain on Malibu Canyon Road, Webb Way, Stuart Ranch Road, and Civic Center Way through December. The cones are temporary. The habit of shopping behind them should not be.
👉 Browse City business resources
🗳️ Your Vote: Counted, and Still Counting
🔹 Thank you for showing up: Tuesday, November 3, closed out eleven days of voting at City Hall and a final weekend sprint at the Malibu Library, the Christian Science Church, and Malibu High School. To everyone who stood in line between rain showers, dropped a ballot at the Library box, or mailed one in time for the postmark: thank you. And a special thank-you to the poll workers who kept those vote centers humming from the first Saturday to the last hour on Tuesday night.
→ 💡 What this means: Results you see right now are preliminary. Vote-by-mail and provisional ballots are still being processed, so counts will keep shifting until the County certifies the election. I will never use this space to cheer for outcomes, but I will always use it to cheer for participation, and patience while every lawful ballot gets counted is part of that.
👉 Visit the LA County elections site
📚 Education & Youth: The Pool's Paper Trail
🔹 The aquatic center had its night at the podium: On Monday, November 2, the Planning Commission took up the coastal development permit for the Malibu Middle and High School Campus Aquatic Center, item 5A on a packed agenda. I was raised by a public school teacher, so you already know where my heart sits: every facility we add to that campus is one more reason for a Malibu kid to grow up fully here, in the water and out of it. The full record, minutes, and replay post at the Agenda Center, and I will keep you updated as this project moves through the process.
→ 🎯 My take: The soccer fields taught us the formula. Families who keep showing up, meeting after meeting, are the reason youth facilities ever make it off the page. If the pool matters to your household, stay in the room with it.
👉 Browse agendas at the Agenda Center
🌊 Environment: Soft Ground, Strong Roots
🔹 Free native plants this Sunday, November 8: The Native Plant Giveaway lands at Legacy Park at 9:30 AM, and the timing could not be better. Last weekend's rain left the soil soft and ready, and native roots are the quiet infrastructure that holds our hillsides together when the real El Niño storms arrive. Come early, bring a box, and plant something that will outlast every weather forecast this winter.
🔹 Habitat rules got their hearing too: Monday's Planning Commission agenda also included item 5D, the City's mitigation protocols for Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas and protected native trees. In plain English: the rulebook for how impacts to sensitive habitat get offset when projects move forward. It is quiet, technical work, and it is exactly where Malibu's environmental values either hold or erode. It has my attention, and the record is posted at the Agenda Center.
🔹 Storm prep is not slowing down: This week The Malibu Times reported on the City advancing emergency storm preparations as coastal repairs near completion. That is the posture I want us in: fixing what the last storm broke while bracing for the next one. Filled sandbags remain available at the Malibu Equestrian Park at 6225 Merritt Drive, with sand and empty bags at Camp 13, Fire Station 70, and the Zuma Beach main entrance. Use this dry stretch well.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: We do not get to choose when the big storms come. We only choose how ready the drains, slopes, and evacuation plans are when they do.
👉 Explore environmental programs
🏛️ City Hall: Monday Night Is Your Microphone
🔹 Council returns Monday, November 9, at 5:30 PM: City Hall, hybrid as always, with the agenda posting at the Agenda Center. It is our first regular meeting since the election, and I would love to see the chambers as busy as the vote centers were.
🔹 The water storage conversation is still moving: Last week I shared a resident's late-night letter asking the City to guarantee property owners the right to install private water tanks or pools as a wildfire defense tool. I said I would push to bring that conversation to the Council, and that has not changed. The moment it lands on an agenda, you will read the date here first, because prevention is still cheaper than grief.
🔹 Two dates for your calendar: City Hall will be closed Wednesday, November 11, in observance of Veterans Day. And a special Council meeting is posted for Wednesday, November 18, on the appeal of a coastal development permit at 25200 Pacific Coast Highway.
👉 Browse agendas at the Agenda Center
🤝 Get Involved: Two Rooms Where Policy Starts
🔹 Planning Commission, Monday, November 16, 6:30 PM, City Hall Council Chambers: The commission's second meeting of the month, with the agenda posting ahead of time at the Agenda Center. If Monday's aquatic center and habitat items showed us anything, it is that these meetings are where the real shaping happens.
🔹 Parks and Recreation Commission, Tuesday, November 17, 6:30 PM, City Hall: With new soccer fields on the horizon and Community Lands questions still open, this is a great month to pull up a chair and weigh in.
🔹 The rest of the lineup: The Public Safety Commission met this past Wednesday, November 4, and returns Wednesday, December 2, at 5 PM. The Arts Commission (fourth Tuesdays at 9:30 AM) and Public Works Commission (fourth Wednesdays at 3:30 PM) are next up November 24 and 25, and the Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission meets Thursday, December 3, at 7 PM, all at City Hall with agendas at the Agenda Center. Every one of these rooms welcomes public comment, and the application to serve stays open year-round. If you have been circling the idea of a commission seat, consider this your nudge from me.
👉 Browse upcoming commission meetings and agendas
👉 Apply to serve on a commission or committee
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Sunday, November 8, 9:30 AM: Native Plant Giveaway, Legacy Park. Free plants, soft ground, no excuses.
🔹 Sunday, November 8, 10 AM to 3 PM: Malibu Farmers Market, Malibu Library parking lot, Civic Center Way.
🔹 Monday, November 9, 5:30 PM: Regular City Council Meeting, City Hall (hybrid), agenda at the Agenda Center.
🔹 Wednesday, November 11: Veterans Day. City Hall is closed, and to the veterans among our neighbors: thank you, today and every day, for your service to this country and this community. The City has traditionally hosted its annual ceremony at City Hall at 11 AM, so check the City calendar for this year's details.
🔹 Monday, November 16, 6:30 PM: Planning Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall Council Chambers.
🔹 Tuesday, November 17, 6:30 PM: Parks and Recreation Commission Regular Meeting, City Hall.
🔹 Wednesday, November 18: Special City Council Meeting on the appeal of a coastal development permit at 25200 Pacific Coast Highway, with details at the Agenda Center.
🔹 A dark-commute reminder: With the clocks back since Sunday, the evening drive on PCH now ends in the dark. Headlights on, speeds down, and remember the speed camera program's warning period is underway, which means the grace notices will not last forever.
🔹 Ongoing: Sea Level Drive remains closed under an evacuation order while repairs continue. Severe erosion hazards persist from Westward Beach Road into Point Dume State Beach, so give the County work zones room. PCH paving runs weekdays between Malibu Lagoon and the county line, and fiber construction continues on Malibu Canyon Road, Webb Way, Stuart Ranch Road, and Civic Center Way through December.
👉 Browse the full Malibu city calendar
🐝 One Last Thought
A ribbon cut outside a new shop. A ballot sliding into a county tray. A native seedling waiting at Legacy Park for someone to carry it home. This week had a theme if you squint: beginnings that only pay off if we tend them. The shop needs customers, the count needs patience, and the seedling needs Sunday morning and a little water.
So here is my ask for the week ahead: pick one beginning and tend it. Browse a new storefront, grab a plant, or bring your voice to the Council chambers Monday night. And if something in your corner of Malibu needs tending that I should know about, write me at hconrad@malibucity.org. Your note comes straight to me, and it often becomes the next item in this newsletter.
Stay rooted, Malibu.
Haylynn Conrad
Councilmember, City of Malibu
