By Clarence Cromwell
The battle of Old Town Theater isn't over yet.
The unnamed group of Los Gatos theater lovers aiming to preserve the theater fired another salvo at Hunter-Storm Properties Feb. 3.
Peri Frantz, a member of the group, filed an appeal against the Planning Commission's Jan. 22 approval of Old Town's architectural plans, taking the theater preservation issue back before the Town Council one more time.
The developer appeared victorious when the demolition of the theater was approved by the Town Council Dec. 16. That was when theater lovers attempted a referendum on the decision but failed to gather enough signatures.
After gaining permission to renovate at Old Town, Hunter-Storm was to submit detailed drawings of the planned work, including the demolition of the theater. The Planning Commission's approval of those drawings would have been final had not theater lovers appealed. The group submitted paperwork last week on the grounds that the Planning Commission erred by not requiring Old Town to preserve the theater or provide another one.
Members of the theater group say Old Town should replace the cultural resource it's demolishing to provide more retail area.
Lynn Kennedy said it's important to have a theater venue in town, even if the Old Town Theater is destroyed. But she believes the easiest and cheapest way to have a theater is to preserve the one at Old Town, she said.
Richard Billig, one of six signatories on the appeal, agreed.
"We're in a situation right now where there is a facility that would cost very little to renovate," Billig said. "But if we destroy that facility it will cost 10 or 20 times as much to reconstruct that facility somewhere else."
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 12, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.