SEAL BEACH : Complaints of Noise Prompt Redesign

Rossmoor Center officials plan to redesign a portion of the shopping complex’s back parking lot as a way of reducing noise created by customers of the Super Saver 7 movie theater.

Residents who live in condominiums next to the parking lot have complained that movie goers talk loudly and screech their car tires when leaving the cinema at night, keeping them up at night.

The parking lot remodeling--which still must be approved by city planning officials--will reduce the number of exits and entrances to the back lot, perhaps lessening the number of cars that use it, said Lee Whittenberg, the planning director.

The plan also calls for the landscaping with trees and plants occupying between 10% and 15% of the lot.

Whittenberg said that the number of complaints has tapered off in recent months. “They tend to occur during the Easter vacation and during the summertime,” he said. “In the winter, people say it’s not as bad.”

Rossmoor Center officials first reacted to the complaints by increasing security around the back lot.

The city investigated the possibility of raising a wall between the lot and the condos with fiberglass panels. But that idea turned out to be too expensive, Whittenberg said.