Jim Skeen, AV Press Staff Writer

March 5, 2005

Theater, eateries are OK'd

PALMDALE - A new movie theater and three restaurants at the Antelope Valley Mall were approved by the Planning Commission. The commission approved the project Thursday night by a 3-0 vote. A decision on the project had been delayed for a month to allow for a joint review of the project by city staffers and representatives from Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonomich's office.

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No additional studies will be required for the project from the developer or the city, but the county officials will examine possible measures such as changing speed limits, erecting no-parking signs and ways to keep people from cutting through or loitering in the neighborhood. Neighbors had requested a block wall around the theater to keep trash in and keep oepole out. The wall would also cut down on glare from theater lights, they said. The block-wall request was denied by the commission citing concerns about such walls blocking the view of patrolling deputies and being a potential graffiti target.

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Planning staffers said the developers of the hotel and a hotel that had been approved last month would be required to refurbish landscaping around the mall and that would reduce plare. The 59,249-square-foot Cinamark theater and restaurants, along with a Hilton hotel approved by the commission last month, represent the final build-out of the Antelope Valley Mall, according to Everett Shine, vice president of Forest City Development, the mall's owners.

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