April 19, 2010 -City Planning Commissioners will not get a chance to ask questions and make comments on Wednesday about the state-of-the-art AMC movie theater complex proposed for Fourth Street near Arizona Avenue.

The item was removed from the agenda late last week and was tentatively rescheduled for the June 16 meeting. Roxanne Tanemori, the City planner assigned to the project, did not return a call for comment on Friday about why the presentation was postponed.

The project calls for an 83,000-square-foot complex with 12 screens, including an IMAX, and 2,197 seats, along with 2,100 square feet of retail tenant space and an interior restaurant on a site currently occupied by a parking structure.

Responding to the City Council’s request for a limited number of total theater seats in the City, AMC has promised to reduce the number at its existing Santa Monica 7 and to close the Broadway 4 in a deal with the landlord that would prevent any future theater operators from occupying the space.

But AMC’s plan to close the Broadway 4 could be problematic because the building owner, Promenade Gateway LLP, wants the space be used as a theater. 04 08 2010 Landlord calls AMC Plan Disturbing.html A community meeting took place last week to kick off the development process. 04 13 2010 AMC Theater Plan Goes Public

This week’s Planning Commission meeting was expected to be the second step with what is called a float-up session. Another float up was expected to take place for the City Council next month, but that also was postponed until after the planning Commission gets its look.

Several items of interest remain on the Planning Commission Agenda. One is the replacement of the Broadway Deli, which last week marked its 20th anniversary on the Promenade.

The plan by Promenade Gateway is for a new restaurant and a retail store. No names have been released of the potential tenants. The Broadway Deli is leaving following a dispute about the rent cost.

Promenade Gateway is requesting a conditional use permit to convert the 8,500-square-foot restaurant into a nearly 6,000-square-foot retail store and a 2,600-square-foot eatery.

The store would stretch along Broadway on one side, with a small front on the Promenade.

The adjacent restaurant would “feature an enhanced Promenade entrance,” according to the City staff report. The passageway on the other side of the restaurant would be enhanced, including the addition of an outdoor seating area.

“The existing pedestrian passageway is kind of dark, kind of quiet and does not have much pedestrian ambiance,” land use consultant Howard Robinson, who has been hired by Promenade Gateway for this project, told The Lookout last month.

“To put the restaurant at the corner of the Promenade and the passageway (with enhancements) will make it much more vibrant and pedestrian-oriented.”

Also on the agenda are elements of the City’s effort with Southern California Disposal and the Allan Co. to improve the waste disposal and recycling operations on the east end of the City. Additionally, the Planning Commission will hear an appeal of the Architectural Review Board’s (ARB) approval of the design for a 33-unit affordable housing project at 2602 Broadway.

The appeal, filed by David Cogan, cites parking, traffic and affordable housing issues. But the City staff report says the Planning Commission will only be allowed to consider design and architecture concerns addressed by the ARB.