Arts Plaza Multiplex Plan Draws Criticism : Theaters: Some residents question the appropriateness of putting the movie screens next door to the Thousand Oaks facility.

With new movie houses sprouting all across Ventura County, some Conejo Valley residents are questioning the wisdom of allowing a multiplex theater to be built on property next door to the city’s vaunted arts plaza.

Even as top officials are negotiating for a sprawling multiscreen cinema and shopping center adjacent to the Civic Arts Plaza, one council member and some business owners are complaining that the city is moving too fast.

“I don’t think the Redevelopment Agency should be [involved in] building a project that can be built by the private sector,” said Conejo Valley architect Neal Scribner, who has waited two years for permission to build a theater farther west on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Others complain that the city should not sell the property. Rather, critics say, cultural and recreational facilities could be built on the 11 acres that would complement the arts center and generate revenue.

“This is a city that’s almost built out and will be losing its developer fees relatively soon,” restaurateur Joel Steinberg said.

“The city’s going to have to find a new way to finance all of these services that the city requires,” he said. For example, “police services are [$108,000] more this year than last year.”

But the City Council already has signed an exclusive agreement with a prominent developer, Kilroy Industries in El Segundo, to negotiate for a project on the former Jungleland property.

Last week, the council approved a 90-day agreement that precludes city officials from talking to any other developers about the property until late December.

Only Councilwoman Elois Zeanah opposed the deal, saying that the public has not been adequately consulted on whether a multiscreen movie theater and adjoining boutiques is an appropriate use for the high-profile vacant land.

“There is this sense of urgency to rush this project through because there are multiplex theaters being proposed by private enterprise,” Zeanah said.

“I’m concerned that there’s going to be a glut of movie screens in our town,” she said. “If the private industry is meeting the current need, the city shouldn’t rush ahead and try to beat them to the punch.”

Zeanah said City Manager Grant Brimhall and City Atty. Mark Sellers seem to be pushing through the Kilroy proposal.

Two years ago, a citizens panel offered more than 100 potential uses for the property, which formerly housed the Jungleland wild animal park. Many of the proposals called for retaining public ownership.

Neither Brimhall nor Sellers returned calls for comment Monday.

Earlier this year, Kilroy won approval to construct a seven-screen movie theater and restaurant complex in Calabasas.

But residents there mobilized against the plan, collecting more than 2,000 signatures opposing the project, Calabasas city officials said. That City Council has not yet decided whether to rescind approval of the project or place it before Calabasas voters, officials there said.

The Kilroy theater project in Thousand Oaks is one of at least six movie theater projects under consideration or construction in the Conejo Valley. Meanwhile, two huge cinemas have opened in Camarillo with 23 screens, and at least two other theater projects are being pitched in Ventura.

Some critics question whether the Conejo Valley can sustain 100 or more theater screens.

“The city should utilize the property for the next generation, which already has nothing else to do but go to the movies,” said Steinberg, who bemoaned the lack of an ice-skating rink, bowling alley and skateboard park.

“Sooner or later, [theaters] will start to fall,” he said, “much like any bubble that grows.”