The Challenge

The City of Malibu owns five parcels of land totaling approximately 61 acres. With no defined plans for their future use, the City faced a key challenge: how to effectively engage the community and gather meaningful input to help shape a long-term vision that reflects the priorities and needs of the Malibu community.

Our Approach

In February 2024, the City of Malibu tapped Tripepi Smith to lead a comprehensive outreach and engagement initiative to gather community input on the future of 5 City-owned parcels. The goal: to spark meaningful dialogue with residents, business owners, local employees, schools and community organizations to help shape the long-term vision for these public lands.
Tripepi Smith worked closely with the City Council and the Parks and Recreation, Arts and Culture and Planning Commissions to craft an inclusive and effective outreach plan. Tailored to Malibu’s demographics, the strategy blended print and digital communications, as well as in-person engagement opportunities, to ensure broad public awareness and participation.
The initiative was divided into two phases:

  • Phase 1 gathered general input on the types of uses the community envisioned.
  • Phase 2 refined this feedback into 10 categories of potential land uses, inviting the community to weigh in land-by-land.
  • Tripepi Smith also utilized FlashVote to conduct scientifically valid surveys throughout both phases.

To build a clear and recognizable identity for this initiative, we developed a dedicated logo, email address and website. The project employed a multi-faceted outreach strategy:

  • Flyers: Distributed via email to NotifyMe subscribers, the Chamber of Commerce and in various public facilities.
  • Mailers: Two mailers were sent via Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM).
  • Social Media: 96 posts were shared across Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor and X.
  • Animated Video: The video promoted the project and encouraged participation. It was
    posted on the City’s YouTube channel, social media and website, garnering 1,605 impressions.
  • Digital Advertisements: 13 digital ads were placed on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram with a total reach of 75,760.
  • Email Blasts: 24 emails were sent through NotifyMe to 1,562 subscribers.
  • Community Meetings: Six community meetings were held, including two hybrid meetings via Zoom, with a total of 253 attendees.
  • Pop-up Events: Seven pop-up events were held, generating 75 suggestions from the community.
  • FlashVote Surveys: Two surveys were conducted for Phases 1 and 2, with a total of 402 participants.
  • Radio Ad: One radio advertisement aired on KBU FM 99.1.
  • TV Slides: One TV slide was broadcasted in rotation on the City’s cable channel.
  • News Items: The City published 12 project updates as “News Flash” items and issued one press release to its media contact list of approximately 1,200 journalists and news organizations.
Results

With Tripepi Smith’s comprehensive strategy, the City of Malibu experienced strong participation throughout the project, demonstrating genuine community interest and engagement. A total of 1,165 suggestions were submitted through the project website and via email, 675 were collected at community meetings and pop-up events and 402 responses were gathered through FlashVote surveys. Additionally, the project website received 13,316 views, demonstrating widespread awareness and interest.

This high level of input directly informed the City Council’s decisions. Based on community feedback, the Council approved priorities for each of the lands and directed staff to move forward with developing soccer and baseball/softball fields on two of the lands, creating a master plan for a multigenerational sports complex and initiating a conceptual design for a future performing arts center. This collaborative effort not only empowered residents to help shape the future of their community but also set a strong foundation for thoughtful, community-driven development in Malibu.