More testimony to come in on plan for historic theater

Close to 100 people shoehorned themselves into a small city meeting room Tuesday night to debate the future of the Whiteside Theatre.

But if they were looking for a tidy ending to one of Corvallis' longest-running civic melodramas, they left disappointed. The Historic Resources Commission voted to delay its decision for at least two weeks to allow additional written testimony to be submitted.

As some members of the overflow crowd stood against the back wall and others sat on a countertop, the commission heard a presentation from a Portland development group that wants to convert the onetime movie palace, built in 1922 and vacant since 2002, into a retail complex with shops on the ground floor and a restaurant-bar upstairs.

But as audience members - and occasionally the commissioners - were reminded several times, the commission's charter is to deal only with proposed exterior alterations and whether or not they maintain the character of buildings on the city's register of historic places.

"We have to follow the land development code and deal only with the criteria. We don't deal with broader issues," Chairman Bruce Osen cautioned the room. "We're limited to the exterior of the building. We're not going to discuss the use or the interior of the building."

Consultant David Dodson outlined the proposal by Whiteside Partners LLC, which has a contract to buy the building from owner Regal Entertainment Group. The contract is contingent in part on city approval of the group's plans.

On the south side, facing Madison Avenue, the 1950s neon marquee would be replaced with a replica of the original 1920s marquee. The illuminated W would be relocated, and the wooden entry doors would be replaced with glass doors and storefronts.

On the west side, facing Fourth Street, the developers would open up the blank brick wall with storefronts and windows at street level, with additional banks of windows above.

City planning staff have recommended approval of the Whiteside Partners proposal with seven conditions, most of them minor. Associate planner Bob Richardson reiterated that support Tuesday, asserting that the application satisfies the land development code's general injunctions that changes to any historic building either bring the structure closer to its original state or at least complement the original design and materials.

The commissioners peppered Dodson, developer Thomas Kemper and project architect Kurt Schultz with questions about their design, but the discussion remained largely dispassionate until Osen opened the floor to public testimony.

Half a dozen people, many of them owners of historic downtown properties, testified in favor of the plan. While all expressed a fondness for the Whiteside, they generally argued that the proposed changes were not overly disruptive and that returning the building to active use was important to the vitality of downtown.

The statement of Les Boudreaux, who restored the building housing 5 Star Sports, summed up their attitude.

"I think it'll be a benefit to downtown, I think it'll draw more customers to downtown, I think it makes downtown more attractive and I support this proposal," he said.

Testimony in opposition to the plan was more emotional.

Max Geier, former chairman of the Historic Resources Commission's predecessor, the Historic Preservation Advisory Board, delivered an impassioned condemnation of the Whiteside Partners application.

Claiming that the entire proposal violated the city's land development code, he told the commissioners, "It should be denied in its entirety."

Geier argued it was pointless to ignore the developers' plans to alter the building's interior because the Whiteside's identity as a theater defines the building's historical significance.

Before being cut off for running past the three-minute time limit, Geier said the developers "are destroying or demolishing a genuine historic artifact that is protected in city code."

He was followed by a calmer but still emotional Kim Griffiths, who recalled childhood visits to the Whiteside with her father and lamented the way other downtown buildings have been adapted for new uses.

"They have not been preserved but have been lost forever," she said.

"Looking at the drawings (for the Whiteside Partners proposal), they appear to put 49 new windows and doors into the Whiteside," she added. "I don't see how you can call that preservation."

Griffiths and her husband, Walt Griffiths, have announced their own desire to buy the Whiteside if the Portland group bows out, and they have been publicly and privately urging people to testify against the plan. They claim to have made a backup offer to buy the building, which they want to preserve as a theater and use as a Christian education center and performing arts venue.

Others made similar pleas, arguing that the existing neon marquee should be preserved, that carving windows into the west wall would destroy its historic value and that an effort should be made to keep the Whiteside a theater, even if that meant leaving it vacant for a while longer.

Doug Eaton, who recently finished restoring the Charles Whiteside residence at Southwest Seventh Street and Adams Avenue, noted that the historic home stood empty for several periods before he bought it.

"Buildings have a life, too," Eaton said. "Sometimes they need to rest before renewal."

Testimony continued late into the night. The commission eventually adjourned without making a decision, voting to hold the record open for more public comment.

Written testimony on the Whiteside Theatre application will be accepted until 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Corvallis Planning Division office in City Hall. It can also be e-mailed to Richardson at planning@ci.corvallis.or.us.

Whiteside Partners will have an additional week to respond to new testimony, and the Historic Resources Commission will schedule deliberations on the matter for a later date.

Bennett Hall is the business editor for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.