CALABASAS : Council Delays Vote on Cinema Complex

The Calabasas City Council has postponed a vote on a proposed cinema complex to give the developer time to redesign his project and make it less controversial.

The council decided to name a panel to work with John Kilroy to help him reduce the scale of the project, which opponents say is too large for Calabasas.

“Let’s talk about square footage. Let’s talk about master plans. I’m ready to talk about it,” Kilroy told the council Wednesday after all the members said they would deny the project.

The council plans to review the project again in mid-September. That would allow time to name the panel to meet with Kilroy and for the panel to make recommendations to the council.

The board was to vote Wednesday on whether to approve Kilroy’s plans for an eight-screen theater complex that would be part of a planned 1.5-million-square-foot office and retail park known as Calabasas Center. It would be located at the corner of Calabasas Road and Parkway Calabasas.

The project has created a bitter split between backers who say the center would help the city by bringing in consumer dollars and foes who fear the project would ruin Calabasas’ quality of life.

Some opponents pledged to recall any board member who voted for the project.

“It’s too big, too much, too soon,” said Mayor Karyn Foley.

Council members said that a scaled-down version of the project would be an asset because it would give Calabasas residents a place to gather and a sense of community.

Some residents worry that a 2,800-seat movie theater would increase crime in the city.

The cinema controversy takes on added importance after a 1992 council decision to approve an eight-theater movie house near the corner of Las Virgenes and Agoura roads. That project, part of a 190,000-square-foot commercial center called the Calabasas Promenade, is about two miles down the road.

The developer of that project says the city can’t support two theater complexes, but a study ordered by the council suggests both theaters could compete because they would draw customers from different areas.

Kilroy said he has no objection to the naming of a panel as long as he gets to name some of the members. Councilman Dennis Washburn suggested naming City Manager Charles Cate, City Atty. Casey Vose and Councilman Marvin Lopata. Washburn suggested himself as an alternative.