Oxnard May End Its Ban on Movie Theaters

If Oxnard can’t get a developer soon to build a movie theater downtown, the City Council may lift its prohibition on theater construction elsewhere in the city.

Councilman Tom Holden, who drafted the ban in 1998 as part of a downtown revitalization effort, said he expects the council to discuss the matter when it meets next week. The council will be briefed in closed session on ongoing negotiations with Sanborn Theaters Inc. of Newport Beach.

“The focus has been to have it [the theater] in downtown so it serves to trigger the redevelopment of the area,” Holden said.

“But ultimately, if it doesn’t pencil out, we’d have to rethink whether we should continue with that strategy,” he said. “If we start to look at sites closer to the freeway, it’s pretty much a no-brainer. We’d probably have multiple developers interested.”

The city has been looking for another developer to pair with Sanborn to build a multiscreen theater on a city-owned block along A Street, after a $14-million proposal with developer Victor Georgino fell apart last year. Those plans called for a 55,000-square-foot theater and 85,000 square feet of retail space. It was the third downtown theater deal to collapse since 1995.

Though there has been continual interest in the downtown site, talks invariably have broken down because developers want the city to subsidize a greater portion of the project than council members are willing to consider.

Although it’s the most populous city in Ventura County, Oxnard has no first-run theater. On nights and weekends, its movie fans spend their money at modern theaters in neighboring Ventura and Camarillo. Meanwhile, the city loses out on potential property taxes from theater owners and sales tax from customers.

Holden said his restrictive movie theater ordinance was intended to spur theater construction downtown, not keep new films out of Oxnard. The ordinance has had little practical effect in recent years because overbuilding nationally in the movie theater industry created a wave of closures and bankruptcies as smaller, older theaters lost out to newer multiplexes.

The shakeout closed a theater in Moorpark last year and has stymied efforts to bring a new multiplex to a site adjacent to the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

The number of movie screens nationwide continues to shrink. But in recent weeks, some industry experts in Southern California have been suggesting that construction is beginning again, specifically in populous neighborhoods that lack theaters.

Oxnard redevelopment officials are expected to bring council members up to speed on their search for another downtown theater developer at Tuesday’s closed session, said Brian Pendleton, the city’s redevelopment services manager. Pendleton declined to discuss the search in advance of the meeting. But council members are preparing for disappointing news.

“Whatever comes forward next week will be a determining factor,” Councilman Bedford Pinkard said. “If we don’t have a developer for the downtown [theater project], I’d be willing to drop the ordinance.”