Cineplex Expansion Plans Studied Further
The City Council delayed voting this week on a proposal to expand an Edwards movie theater complex planned for Birch Street in the downtown area.
Council members said they needed more time to study the project, which would add 10 screens to a planned 12-screen complex approved in 1991. The cinema is considered to be the anchor of a pedestrian-oriented retail, shopping and entertainment area planned for Birch west of Brea Boulevard.
“There are questions that have been raised from citizens, and the council has a great interest in understanding the long-term economics of doing this or not doing this,” Mayor Burnie Dunlap said Wednesday. “We simply weren’t able to get all the information we required to make an informed decision.”
The council will reconvene Tuesday for a public hearing and possible vote on the project, Dunlap said.
Some residents said a 22-screen complex would bring more traffic congestion and diminish the city’s “small-town atmosphere.”
“The feel of downtown Brea will dramatically change,” said longtime resident Stacy Gutkowski, who said she helped gather 400 signatures opposing the plan. “I believe 12 screens is sufficient, because Brea already has several theaters.”
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