On February 16, City Council unanimously referred the movie theater tile issue to the Historic Resources Commission for their opinion. The matter will return to City Council at a later date.
Before we took that action, my points that I made on the record were:
(1) I am for the historic preservation option of keeping the tile in place because it:
- minimizes disruption to surrounding businesses,
- minimizes the cost to about $25,000 according to city staff (as opposed to spending $150,000 to $200,000 to destroy the tile, work on the underlying area and install new tile),
- maximizes historic preservation which will preserve our unique village atmosphere, island identity and sense of place.
(2) Even if the end result of keeping the tile makes the sidewalk look somewhat imperfect as mentioned during the council discussion, are we not all imperfect?
(3) If at some point in the future my colleagues with whom I serve on city council ultimately decide to rip out the old and replace it with new tile, then I want to save the terrazzo tile. I suggest that the terrazzo be removed gently and preserved so that it can be repurposed into public art, like the mural in the public library was saved from a local restaurant. I think our art students in town could create a mural or other art form out of the tile for the enjoyment of the public for years to come. I’d like to know the estimated cost of saving the tile.
(4) In answer to city staff’s request for direction on two other items in the area of the Village Theater sidewalk, I stated that I did not want to put in trees and/or street lights at this time in this dreadful economy. Those two items can wait until the economy gets better.
It’s exciting that Coronado will once again have a movie theater. This will benefit our residents and our business community.
