WESTMINSTER : City Will Seek Loan to Build Arts Center

The City Council has decided to apply for a federal loan that will help finance construction of a new community arts center at 15th and Monroe streets.

If approved, the $5.3-million loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development would also be used to buy land and pay for improvements, including a park, near the proposed site.

Officials said that additional money for the $7-million project will come from the Redevelopment Agency and the $1.3 million that the city received five years ago from the local cable television franchise holder.

Construction of the arts center is contingent on the city’s receiving the federal loan money.

The community arts center would be built on 3 1/2 acres of land bought from Westminster School District and would be done in an Old English design.

It would feature a 475-seat theater, a lobby for art exhibits and a terrace for private and public events.

There would be meeting and dining rooms and a parking lot to accommodate more than 100 cars.

The building would replace the Cultural Arts Center on Hoover Street that was built in 1945.

The council voted 4 to 1 for the arts center last week, with Councilman Craig Schweisinger in dissent.

Schweisinger said that because of the city’s tough fiscal situation, “now may not be the best time” to go ahead.

In supporting the loan application, Councilwoman Charmayne S. Bohman said the arts plan would be “a wonderful upgrade for our city. This project will raise property values and (imposes) no tax increase or fees for the citizens of Westminster.”

Redevelopment Director Don Anderson said the loan would be paid from HUD Community Development Block grants.

He said the city can borrow up to five times its annual allocation and repay the loan over a period of up to 10 years.

For the 1994-95 fiscal year, the city will receive $1.2 million in Community Development Block grants, Anderson said.

The Redevelopment Agency would provide $475,000 for the project.

In addition, the city would use the $1.3 million that Paragon Cable paid in 1989 for the right to keep its franchise.

Don Weddle, the cable company’s public affairs director, said the money was paid in exchange for the city’s approval to extend Paragon Cable’s franchise until 2004 and waiving the right to buy back the cable system.

Paragon Cable bought the cable system five years ago from a group of cities that included Westminster, Weddle said.