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Cinema May Be Open By August
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Published: July 6, 2008
WESLEY CHAPEL - WESLEY CHAPEL - Central Pasco's first multi-screen movie theater could be open for business by August, according to the developer.
Jeremy Welman, chief operating officer for Alabama-based Cobb Theatres, said last week that he expects the 16-screen megaplex now under construction at The Grove shopping center to welcome its first patrons in about 45 days.
Earlier plans by Echo Real Estate Services, the developer of The Grove, had called for the theater to open last month.
Welman said that prediction was more hopeful than possible for a project that typically takes 12 months from start to finish.
He conceded that August - the end of the summer movie season - isn't the best time to open a cinema.
"It'd have been nice to have all those summer blockbusters," Welman said.
Cobb will learn Tuesday whether county commissioners will grant the company a license to serve alcohol at its "cinebistro" restaurant on the theater's second floor.
The proposal has encountered resistance from members of a nearby church who say drunken drivers leaving the theater could put them and local children at risk.
The theater and the church are less than 850 feet apart - well within the 1,000-foot radius the county set in 1979 to separate churches from business that sell alcohol.
Planning commissioners last month recommended granting the liquor license over church members' objections.
In the past, some liquor licenses have been approved despite the 1,000-foot limit, while others have been denied.
Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.
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Reader Comments
Posted by ( JeanAnn ) on July 6, 2008 at 6:17 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Cobb Theatres should not serve alcohol. First -- they knew the law and only had to build 130 feet further from the Church [lack of land is not an issue]. Second -- on Saturdays 75% of all attendees [this is according the Cobb himself at the Planning Meeting] is under the legal age. Yet they want to have what is essentially a carded nightclub/bar in the same building! Thirdly, Cobb Theatres are not showing RESPECT to their neighbors. That is the purpose of the 1000 feet rule. RESPECT. If a Church [or Park or School] builds within that distance of a bar [or other liquer establishment] they respect their right of previous existance. Yet the Theater isn't Respecting the Church's right [as per COUNTY CODE] not to have alcohol served within 1000 feet.
Lastly, this is a matter of precedence which affects each and every Church, School and Park in Pasco County.
Every argument Cobb's is putting forward can be put forward by any other establishment near a Church, School or Park, and the whittling away of the distance can continue until there is no longer any County Code governing alcohol around Churches, Schools or Parks. Any 'denied' establishment would just use the Cobb decision as grounds in a lawsuit. And that is expensive in today's restricted economy. Better no future establishment have grounds for a lawsuit.
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