Costly Church Renovation Is Debated : Simi Valley: Backers push for an arts center. Opponents say the private sector should fund the $3.4-million project.

During a time of belt-tightening at City Hall, Simi Valley officials will decide this month whether to proceed with an ambitious $3.4-million plan to turn a dusty, boarded-up 69-year-old church into a bustling cultural arts center.

At issue is a stately gray structure at 3050 Los Angeles Ave., which opened in 1924 as the Simi Valley Community Methodist Episcopal Church. Later, it served as a mortuary and a Jewish temple. In 1990, two service clubs turned it into a haunted house for a Halloween fund-raiser.

Most recently, however, some city leaders and arts activists decided that the former church is the best site for what they say is a badly needed 350-seat community theater, which would offer music, dance and drama performances.

As a first step, the city bought the building in 1991 for $821,000.

But today, as state lawmakers are vowing to balance their budget by withholding local tax dollars, a key question remains: Can Simi Valley afford to renovate the old church as a community theater?

“If the state doesn’t rape us, it can be done,” insists Councilwoman Judy Mikels, one of the project’s biggest boosters.

Mikels wants to see the church reopened as a theater by October, 1994, to coincide with Simi Valley’s 25th birthday celebration.

But the councilwoman cautioned: “We’re not going to do without city services to make this happen.”

Simi Valley’s tentative 1993-94 budget, released last week, calls for the city to spend $2.4 million for final design and construction work on the arts center--on top of the $1 million already spent for the land and preliminary studies.

Mikels said the project would give local artists and touring theater groups a place to perform. Such groups now must use high school auditoriums or an old courtroom that has been turned into a 98-seat theater.

At the same time, Mikels said, the project would preserve one of the city’s oldest and most distinctive buildings. Local history buffs say the building, with its tall pillars and neo-Classical design, resembles a courthouse more than a church.

Yet opening a new arts center is not without risks.

Mitze Productions and J.B. Research Co., consulting firms hired by Simi Valley to review the church plan, point to the 9-year-old, 564-seat Dorill B. Wright Cultural Center in Port Hueneme.

That theater was closed recently because that city could no longer afford to subsidize it, and the consultants warned that Simi Valley could run into a similar problem.

“Similar fiscal constraints are faced by many California cities,” the consultants said in their report. “The city of Simi Valley must balance the value of a new cultural arts center with the fiscal realities of local government in California.”

The plan to turn the old church into a theater has sparked some criticism.

Councilwoman Sandi Webb has consistently voted against the project, saying it is an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.

“I think we need a new police station, certainly, before we need a performing arts theater,” Webb said. “It’s a question of priorities. But also I don’t think this is something that government should be doing. It’s for the private sector.”

During the last City Council campaign, several candidates criticized Mayor Greg Stratton for supporting the theater project.

Mayoral challenger Steve Frank accused Stratton and his colleagues of “an irrational and irresponsible fiscal policy.”

Frank said a cultural arts center in Simi Valley should only be built with private donations.

Despite such attacks, Stratton and incumbent Councilman Bill Davis, who also backed the theater, were easily reelected in November.

Mikels saw that as a vote of confidence for the church conversion.

“When it didn’t become a big political football during the election, it became obvious that there was support for it in the community,” she said. “You didn’t see great hordes coming forward to say, ‘Don’t do this!’ ”

The councilwoman recently toured the dimly lit interior of the old church, which is closed to the public. Because of concerns about vandalism, the building is surrounded by a chain-link fence and protected by an alarm system.

The church’s original wooden pews, carved more than 50 years ago, may be upholstered for use in the new theater, Mikels said. But the ornate shell that covers the stage probably will be removed when that area is enlarged and redesigned, she said.

The preliminary design calls for removal of the interior walls to expand the seating area. The church’s window openings would be sealed with drywall for acoustic reasons, but the stain-glass panes would be preserved and displayed with backlighting.

A large hall beneath the main theater could be used for meetings, dinners, art exhibitions and small drama productions. The basement level includes a fireplace, as well as modern kitchen equipment, which could be used for a catering service.

Renovating the church probably will cost just about as much as building a new theater, Mikels said. And working within an existing structure poses special challenges.

“To me, it always seems harder to fix something than to start from scratch,” she said.

If the renovation is completed, many arts enthusiasts living in Simi Valley and within a 25-mile radius are likely to attend events at the arts center, the city’s theater consultants concluded.

They also polled arts groups in Simi Valley and elsewhere in Ventura County and found that many would be interested in performing or setting up exhibits at the new center.

But the consultants cautioned that the new civic center under construction in Thousand Oaks will contain a 400-seat theater that could compete with the proposed Simi Valley theater.

Like many small community theaters, the Simi Valley arts center would probably not make any money and would require a subsidy from the city, the consultants said.

According to their financial forecast, if events were scheduled 170 days during the theater’s first year of operation, its expenses would surpass its income by $75,000. By the center’s fifth year, if events were held on 275 days, the annual deficit would rise to $95,000, the consultants estimated.

To cover this debt, the city could allocate money each year to the arts center, or theater buffs could conduct fund-raising campaigns. The consultants also said a restaurant and bookstore could be built beside the old church, generating money to offset some of the annual debt.

Later this month the council is expected to decide whether to proceed with more detailed design work on the arts center. The council also must determine whether the theater would be run directly by the city or by a nonprofit foundation set up by the city.