Music Fades at the Irvine Conservatory : Arts: Nonprofit school spends most of its funds to move to a new site, only to find it can’t open there because the building lacks fireproof walls.

The future of a nonprofit organization that has provided low-cost music lessons and public performances in the city for 20 years is in jeopardy after being forced to close its doors to students amid a lease dispute.

Soon after spending most of its funds to move to the Airport Business Center on July 30, the Irvine Conservatory of Music was barred by the city from offering classes there because of zoning and fire code restrictions. A handful of the conservatory’s 145 students are receiving lessons at their homes and at a local church.

“This is about to put us out of business,” said Eric Wright, director of the conservatory, which also sponsors the Irvine Chamber Orchestra. The conservatory is paying $1,650 a month on a five-year lease for the 2,000-square-foot facility.

Wright blames Koll Management Services for recommending the site to the conservatory, which was looking for room to expand its popular private and group classes. The city has required a $3,000 conditional-use permit and the construction of two fire walls if it is to be used as a music school.

“The thing that perplexes us is that Koll didn’t give us full disclosure of what was needed to be in here as an operating business in this facility, even though we asked them,” Wright said. “We don’t want to point the finger; it’s been a screw-up all the way around.”

Koll Co. attorney Paul Hegness agrees there was a misunderstanding about zoning requirements, but he has pledged to help the conservatory solve its problems.

“We had no reason to believe that the city wouldn’t permit this use,” Hegness said, adding that the conservatory will not be held to the five-year lease if it is unable to operate at the location. “We’re not going to leave this tenant holding the bag--that’s the last thing that’s going to happen.”

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City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said that if the Koll Co. will bring the property up to code by installing fire walls, the city will be flexible on the zoning permits. Otherwise, Brady said, he expects Koll Management Services to find the school a new location.

“It is a problem that was created by the Koll leasing agents because they did not check with the city ahead of time to see if it was a permitted use,” Brady said.

The Irvine Music Conservatory had 145 students and a 20-member faculty before moving to its new location on Skypark Circle near John Wayne Airport. In addition to vocal and instrumental music lessons, the conservatory has sponsored a youth chorus and jazz ensembles.

The Irvine Symphony Orchestra, which has since been reduced to a chamber music group, was organized by the conservatory. Wright had hoped to revive it.

“We were going to gradually build it back up, using this new location,” Wright said. “You work 20 years, and in the wink of an eye it’s threatened.”

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The city’s “cease and desist” order, which was issued on Sept. 8, could not have come at a worse time, said Christine Jones, a music instructor, who heads the conservatory’s piano instruction program.

“This is the most important time of the year for us economically, when we enroll most of our students,” Jones said. “We’ve had to turn them away.”

City officials have offered to reduce the down payment required for the conditional-use permit. But Community Development Director Robert Johnson said the business cannot be allowed to operate unless additional fire walls are constructed.

“We have to make sure that if one portion of the building catches fire, it won’t move rapidly through the building,” Johnson said. “We’ll work with them on the zoning, but when it comes to fire safety, it’s not one of those areas where we have much flexibility.”