CAMARILLO : Panel Rejects Plan for 11-Screen Theater

Bowing to residents’ complaints, Camarillo planners have unanimously rejected a proposal to build an 11-screen movie theater at the city’s east end.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday voted against a 2,940-seat United Artists theater that Pardee Construction Co. wants to build near Camarillo High School, near Santa Rosa Road and Verdugo Way.

The commission is scheduled to take a final vote on the project Dec. 7. If the commission rejects the proposal then, Pardee will have 10 days to appeal to the City Council.

At Tuesday’s commission meeting, residents, mainly from Pardee-built housing tracts near the theater site, protested the cinema, saying that it would bring crime and traffic problems to the area.

Police dispute claims that movie theaters spawn criminal activity, city Planning Director Matthew A. Boden said Wednesday. And a study shows that the area could handle additional traffic.

Nevertheless, commissioners concluded that the theater was incompatible with the nearby neighborhood.

In addition to the concerns about traffic and crime, city planners were concerned about parking at the proposed cinema complex.

As proposed, the complex would have 52 fewer parking spaces than required by city code. Pardee so far has refused a city recommendation to have 208 fewer seats in the theater to meet parking-space requirements, Boden said.

Even without the Pardee project, Camarillo has a chance of getting a multiscreen theater. The city already has approved BKS Camarillo Partners’ plan to build a 12-screen complex on Daily Drive. A proposal by the Koll Leonard partnership for another 12-screen theater south of the Ventura Freeway near Las Posas Road is pending.