GLENDALE : Moratorium on Cinemas Narrowed

A plan to stop movie theaters from locating outside the downtown Glendale area for a 45-day moratorium period was amended to Brand Boulevard only.

The City Council asked city staff members on Tuesday to narrow the proposed moratorium.

The council voted 5 to 0 to introduce the moratorium, but asked that it be rewritten to allow only cinemas that would front on Brand Boulevard to be given permits. Council members will vote on the revised measure next week.

The more general moratorium introduced Tuesday would have allowed for review of movie theater companies applying for permits throughout the city’s central business district.

The measure will not affect an eight-screen theater planned for the third floor in Glendale Fashion Center--which is outside the downtown area--because project owners have obtained a conditional use permit to rebuild the center.

City officials and the council agreed earlier this month that a moratorium on cinemas outside the downtown area is necessary to give the city time to work on a plan to create a cinema zone.

A cinema zone is what the downtown redevelopment area needs to draw new retailers as well as pedestrians to the central business district, said City Manager David Ramsay.

Other cities such as Pasadena and Santa Monica have successfully limited movie theaters to certain areas to create bustling entertainment and shopping districts such as Old Town and the Third Street Promenade, officials said.

Council members also expressed concern about the moratorium’s effect on movie theaters currently operating in the city and if it would prohibit these cinemas from expanding.

The council asked city staff to determine if the moratorium would allow current theaters such as the eight-screen Mann Theater on Maryland Avenue to place signs on Brand Boulevard--which would allow them to expand under the moratorium because the signs would front Brand Boulevard.