Church Seeks More Room : Zoning Dispute Stalls Plan to Sell Theater

A religious group’s plan to sell a landmark theater-in-the-round to an apartment builder was stalled Monday by a dispute over the Woodland Hills site’s zoning.

Los Angeles officials said confusion over the correct land-use designation for the 8.3 acres around the defunct 2,865-seat Valley Music Theater could take a formal city zoning change--and as long as two years--to settle.

The Valley Circuit of the Jehovah’s Witnesses owns the dome-shaped theater and uses it as a meeting hall. Church officials say they need to sell it and move because they have run out of parking space around the circular building.

The developer of a neighboring apartment complex has offered to buy the property, but only if he can build up to 350 apartment units on the site.

Dispute Over Zoning

Church leaders contend that the longtime zoning of the theater land should allow such a project. City planners have disagreed, arguing that the apartment proposal would not fit in with a recent citywide rezoning effort that included the theater site.

The confusing zoning dispute was debated during a two-hour Planning Department hearing before about 25 Woodland Hills residents who met in Van Nuys.

“The property owners are in limbo. They’re stuck,” hearing examiner Anne V. Howell said. She said she will issue a recommendation to city planning commissioners on how the dispute should be handled before the panel meets May 11.

At issue is how the theater parcel is divided with “parking,” “commercial” and “residential” zoning designations. No construction would be allowed in a parking zone, and no apartment development would be allowed in a commercial zone.

Map Criticized

Private land-use consultants hired by the church sought to convince Howell that city planners erred two years ago when they drew a new zoning map for the property as part of a court-ordered effort to make zoning consistent with actual land use in the city.

Consultant Dwight Steinert charged that officials mistakenly thought that the theater property was farther west than it actually is. “They placed our property in the wrong location,” consultant Karen Blackwell said.

Homeowners complained to Howell that the city has made a series of errors involving zoning and development issues in the vicinity of the defunct music theater.

“There should be a moratorium on mistakes,” said homeowner Sid Perry, who charged that the city “has rubberized drawings that stretch and bend” to benefit developers.

Sierra Club representative Jill Swift suggested that an effort be made to salvage the old theater so it can be put to use in “the cultural renaissance” that has taken place since the theater stopped housing Broadway shows and other public events about 20 years ago.

“It would be unfortunate to tear this down,” Swift said. “It is not in the best planning process to do that.”

Demolition Rights

Howell said church officials already have the right to tear down the circular concrete building if they want to, however.

Church elder Lloyd Harding suggested that that is not on the horizon--at least as long as the church needs to use the theater for weekly meetings.

Harding said the church only uses about 1,500 of the theater’s seats because of the parking problem. If the church is unable to sell it and use the proceeds to buy a new and larger location, it will consider staying and building an enclosed parking garage for worshipers, he said.

Elder Jim Lacher said the parcel’s selling price will depend upon the ultimate zoning, which will determine how many dwelling units can be built.

Lacher said negotiations to sell the theater site are continuing with the next-door developer, Jay Wilton. But even though “we have a general agreement with him,” the site has not yet been sold as Wilton reported last week, Lacher said.