Camarillo OKs New Movie Complex Plan

The Camarillo City Council early Thursday morning approved a controversial proposal to build an 11-screen, 2,629-seat United Artists movie theater complex at a commercial center on the city’s east side.

After a four-hour hearing that ended about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, the council voted 4 to 1 to overrule the city’s Planning Commission, which last month rejected the complex, saying that it would generate too much noise, did not have sufficient parking and was generally incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood. Mayor Ken Gose cast the lone dissenting vote.

The proposed 39,700-square-foot complex, planned for a lot near Adolfo Road and Camino Ruiz, is adjacent to an existing shopping and commercial center.

“After hearing the testimony tonight, I’m not sure this project is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood,” Gose said. “Although the developer has made many modifications, I’m still not sold on this.”

After being turned down by the Planning Commission in December, Pardee Construction Co., the company hired by United Artists to build the facility, agreed to modify the proposal. The scaled-down plan reduces the number of seats by 154 and would alter the complex’s surrounding landscaping to reduce noise and glare from light coming from the building and parking lot.

In voting to overturn the decision of the Planning Commission, the council will send the entire proposal back to the panel for review before casting the final vote on the theater complex at its Jan. 26 meeting.

By reducing the number of seats, the proposal was able to comply with the city’s parking requirements and prevent theater patrons from having to park in an adjoining lot and cross a small street to get to the complex.

During the meeting, a parade of residents who live in housing tracts adjacent to the proposed theater complex decried the proposal, saying that it will drive their property values down and infringe on their enjoyment of their homes. Resident Beth Baratt said the nearby Adolfo Camarillo High School already brings extra traffic and noise to the neighborhood.

“It’s our belief that residential areas and high schools don’t mix,” Baratt said. “It’s our belief that residential areas, high schools and movie houses really don’t mix.”

Echoing Baratt was resident Adam Chartom.

“Putting something of this sort so close to a neighborhood just isn’t right,” Chartom said. “It may be legal to do so in terms of planning and zoning, but it is not the right thing to do.”

But according to Bill Teller, Ventura County project manager for Pardee Construction, the movie complex has been designed so that impacts on the surrounding neighborhood will be lessened or eliminated.

“We’ve made a lot of changes, and I think we have worked out all the problems that we had with this project,” Teller said.

Councilwoman Charlotte Craven said that with the reduction in seats and other environmental modifications proposed by the builder, she could support the proposal.

Although the theater has drawbacks, it is not as detrimental as some potential uses for the area, which is zoned for light manufacturing, Craven said. “For instance, it’s entirely possible--and legal--that we could have a business in there that deals with hazardous materials. I wouldn’t want to see that.”

Camarillo City Manager Bill Little agreed.

“I think Pardee has gone out of its way to correct the proposal’s deficiencies brought up by the Planning Commission,” Little said. “I think this is a plan that could be a good use for the property.”

The council’s backing of the United Artists theater marks the third such approval of a massive movie complex in a year’s time.

Late last year, the Planning Commission approved plans for a 2,700-seat, 12-screen Mann Theater Corp. complex at an office park on Daily Drive.

Last month, the City Council approved a 12-screen, 3,044-seat complex by Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. at the site of a proposed factory outlet mall, just south of the Ventura Freeway and a mile east of Camarillo Airport.

The council approved the project over the objections of the city’s Airport Authority, which concluded that the facility was too close to the airport’s runway to ensure the safety of patrons and aviators. Council members said they based their decision on a consultant’s study of the site, which found that the planned complex would be safe.

Although the council approved three complexes, city officials believe that only one set of theaters will be built.

“I think it will come down to whoever can get the financing first,” Little said.