Laurel Neighborhood News

by Kathleen Rolinson

Former Laurel Theater For Sale

After 11 years in the Laurel, Victory Outreach Church has outgrown its home in the former Laurel Theater building at 3814 MacArthur Boulevard. The church has put the building on the market with an asking price of about $2.5 million.

On Saturday, February 10, Silvia, the wife of Pastor Larry Vigil, gave about a dozen excited neighbors a tour of the former theater building. She explained that the marquee sign, box office, theater seats and original light fixtures were gone before the church moved in, but much of the former theater remained, like original plaster ceiling detailing, the chandelier hoists, and wiring for the old marquee sign. Sylvia led visitors through the theater space, behind the stage, upstairs to the balcony, and outside to rooms at either side of the entrance doors, which might be leased out as separate tenant spaces. The adjacent parking lot is included with the building.

A motivated group of residents and merchants, who sees a community theater as an asset to the neighborhood, has organized to discuss the possibilities of purchasing and restoring the building into a movie theater. They point to the restoration of neighborhood theaters like the Parkway Theater near Lake Merritt, the Cerrito Theater in El Cerrito, and the Alameda Theater in Alameda.

To participate in the group's discussion, join its online Yahoo listserv group at groups.yahoo.com/group/Laurel_Community_Theatre.

High and MacArthur Project, Revisited

Over 40 residents and merchants gathered Thursday, February 15, to hear from the developer of the proposed senior apartment complex on High and MacArthur. A previous version of the project was rejected by the Planning Commission's Design Review Committee because of the number of variances and lack of community support. Although the Design Review Committee gave instructions to developer AMG and Associates to work with the community on the project, AMG made changes without collaboration and then brought the revised project to the community. The meeting at Councilmember Quan's office was the community's first opportunity to see the revised plan. Quan's chief of staff, Richard Cowan, previously presented the revised design to the Laurel District Association to mixed reviews.

At Metro deadline, AMG was scheduled to go before the Planning Commission on February 28, two weeks after the community meeting. When I asked Jean why AMG was not required to bring the project back to design review, she said they had met all the requirements DRC had indicated and that the DRC didn't ask them to change much. The design review requirements were not posted on the city's Web site, so the changes required were unverifiable by deadline.

The new design includes a height reduction from 72 feet to 60 feet, still in excess of the 35-foot zoning restriction. A reduction in apartment units (from 141 to 115) and parking were required to accommodate the height change and addition of retail space. The new design calls for 3,100 square feet of retail, comprised of a kiosk space on High Street and larger space on MacArthur.

Community concerns were focused around the building height and mass, traffic flow, parking, safety, and health concerns for the residents, given the proximity to Interstate 580. Residents also expressed concern for the precedent that would be set with this project. The area is zoned C31, which limits the height to 35 ft., requires retail on the ground floor, and disallows parking on the ground floor. Four conditional-use permits are required for the current design, overriding the C31 designation. Such a precedent could allow future developers in the area to ignore the zoning limitations