Local News in Brief : Laguna Niguel : Supervisors Approve New Theater Complex
A community group lost its battle to block a proposed eight-screen movie theater Wednesday when the county Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the project.
Nancy Lewis of the Laguna Niguel Community Council told the board that the proposed theater would lack adequate parking and would generate traffic and safety problems in the area.
Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, whose district includes the proposed theater, recommended that it be approved but with a strict condition allowing the county to revoke its operating permit if the parking conditions outlined by developers are not met.
“We have been agonizing over this as much as any project in my 13 years on the board,” Riley said. “I believe it is a good addition to the community.”
The theater is to be built in the Rancho Niguel planned community near Greenfield Street and Crown Valley Parkway.
It would have eight movie screens and 2,200 seats, said a spokesman for the developer, Buie Corp. It also would share some of its parking space with surrounding office buildings that should not be in use during the peak operating hours of the theater, county officials said.
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