The halving of the 500-seat theater at the new city hall building causes a battle between former council colleagues.
By Olivia Damavandi / Assistant Editor
Cries to save the theater were heard as the City Council Monday night in a 4-1 vote put out to bid the approximately $5 million renovation to convert the former Malibu Performing Arts Center building into the new Malibu City Hall. The decision also pitted a sitting council member against a former one.
The decision dismayed many local performing arts enthusiasts, including Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, the only dissenting vote, who say the decision ignores the value of a state-of-the-art performing center and theater in Malibu, which has been reduced from 500 seats to around 230 seats. The elimination of seats from the theater has become a heavily controversial element of the project.
“While the number of seats is more than adequate for any city council and/or commission meeting, is it adequate for artistic programming on weekends and at night when city hall is closed?” Conley Ulich wrote in a letter to the editor. “The needs of our community vis-a-vis the theatre were never determined or studied.
“One of the stated reasons to remove the seats was that there was no evidence that the theatre was successful in the past; therefore, one may conclude that there would not be programming that would need 320 seats for use by the community in the future,” Conley Ulich continued. “Another reason was the need for the six or so employees in the Public Works Department to have access to the bathroom.”
Conley Ulich also said, to date the city council has held seven special public meetings to discuss plans for the new city hall for a total of about 10 hours, whereas the renovation of Malibu Public Library has received a more in-depth analysis.
“We had the stakeholder meetings [for the new city hall plans] during the day when not many people could attend, and we didn’t have enough of them,” Conley Ulich said Tuesday in a phone interview.
New Councilmember Laura Rosenthal in an interview Tuesday said that after talking to many community members and architects, “I came to conclusion that the best option for both the city and arts use of city hall is to go forward with the city plans. The theater will be smaller but much more useful to the community and city government.”
Conley Ulich said that 1,300 people signed a petition in support of keeping the 500-seat theater, “which is more people than Laura [Rosenthal] was elected by.” (Rosenthal received 1,734 votes in the election.)
Former Councilmember Sharon Barovksy responded to Conley Ulich’s letter to the editor and said the city council held nine public hearings on the city hall renovation and received more than 10 hours of public testimony.
“I attended all of those workshops and many in the arts community made it clear they wanted an art gallery where local artists could display their work; an improved theater that would accommodate local performances (as presently configured there is no presidium/backstage which is essential for live theater); an educational component that would provide art, music and dance classes,” Barovsky wrote in an e-mail to Conley Ulich. “Others in the community wanted an enlarged community room with banquet facilities; meeting rooms, an enlarged senior center; and a Sheriff’s presence.
“Because you did not attend all of the workshops, you may be unaware that the new design meets all those needs,” she told Conley Ulich in the e-mail. “What the new design does not offer is a rock concert venue favored by only a few local residents, almost all of whom are involved in the rock/music business. As to your implied criticism that the new design was influenced by the ‘need for the six or so employees in Public Works’ to have access to the bathroom, I don’t know what you are suggesting-Andy Gumps in the Lobby maybe?”
But Conley Ulich fired back, stating that Our Lady of Malibu this weekend will be performing the play, “Annie,” at the new city hall performing arts theater.
“So there’s another example of how the seats could be filled,” Conley Ulich said. “Not just for concerts. There are other things the theater could be used for, it’s not just about rock shows. It’s kind of sad. I think there are much better uses.”
Richard D’Amato of LPA, Inc., the architecture firm that will also handle the Malibu Library Renewal Project, presented a preliminary redesign plan in which the 500-person theater would also be used as 2,250-square-foot council chambers.
The problems with doing so, however, are poor sight lines that limit views to the stage, which is currently not handicap accessible, and the large distance between the first row of seats and the stage. Complications also exist with the acoustics and lighting of the theater, which would have to be modified to suit the atmosphere of a meeting space.
To mediate those issues, the plan suggests reducing the seating from 500 to 230, which D’Amato said would also reduce the size of the room and create additional space for community use.
Other features of the building will include a 1,300-square-foot senior center, a 1,300-square-foot multi-purpose room, a 140-square-foot office for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a 475-square-foot meeting room.