Fullerton OKs Plan for Theater

City Council members Tuesday night approved construction of a special-effects theater that would become a major element in a proposed $12-million downtown renovation project creating the Fullerton Museum Plaza.

The council also ordered further study of other elements of the plaza proposal, including a 600-seat outdoor amphitheater, specialty restaurants, shopping galleries and an outdoor art display area.

Council approval of the theater means that the city now will enter into an agreement with Canadian-based IMAX Systems Corp. to construct a 360-seat IMAX Theatre in the center of the plaza, making Fullerton the only city in Orange County with such a special-effects theater. IMAX produces scientific and educational films to be shown on an oversized (70-by-100-foot) screen--providing viewers with an all-around sense of light, sound and motion.

Plaza Proposal

Plans for the plaza call for it to be built around the Fullerton Museum at 301 N. Pomona Ave., on a site bounded by Harbor Boulevard and Pomona, Wilshire and Whiting avenues. The total proposal calls for the plaza to include the amphitheater for stage productions, lectures and concerts, plus the restaurants, shopping areas and art display area.

Although the council voted to go ahead with the IMAX Theatre, it postponed a decision on the amphitheater and other plaza plans and recommended further studies, City Manager Bill Winter said. If completed, the plaza would be expected to draw more than a million people a year to the downtown area, said Ronald Hagan, director of community services.

This latest project is part of a major face lift for the Fullerton Museum, formerly the Museum of North Orange County. City officials took over the financially ailing museum last year, providing an initial $600,000 in funding to repair and restore the old library building in which it was housed.

City officials hope to make it a museum for traveling exhibits that would be comparable to those that are displayed by the Smithsonian Institution, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and the California Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles.

Foot Traffic Expected

Also, the plaza project will act as a “catalyst” for additional business and development in the downtown area, Hagan said. “It will benefit Fullerton because it will generate foot traffic downtown and increase the market for downtown businesses.”

Based on revenues generated by existing IMAX Theatres, Hagan estimated an annual income of $1.8 million from the Fullerton site. Several science museums throughout the world have IMAX Theatres, including the Smithsonian in Washington and the California Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles.

The project will be financed by both private and city funds.

In other action, the council voted unanimously to limit the length of time that anyone may stay in the city’s motel rooms to 30 days. The ordinance is designed to eliminate the problem of motels being used as apartments by people who cannot afford first- and last-month rent.