To some, the arrival of Moore Warren Theatre meant every weekend and late-night premiere was an opportunity to load the family up in the car for a movie-going experience complete with comfortable seating, food that isn’t just synthetically buttered popcorn, a full bar, a game room and an onsite diner.
To others, the Warren Theatre experience reeked of traffic, noise, light pollution and unruly teenagers.
One metro neighborhood is not excited about the arrival of the movie theater giant in Oklahoma City.
Homeowners around NE 122nd Street and Eastern Avenue, near the Kilpatrick Turnpike, definitely don’t want the luxury theater chain anywhere near their neighborhood.
“It makes me mourn to think of this becoming a parking lot, lights and disturbing the peacefulness of this area,” Linda Airington told KFOR.com.
The news outlet reported that the proposed Warren Theatre is half the size of the one in Moore; it will not contain bars, liquor stores or casinos; and the company fulfilled the requirement to speak to neighbors who would live within 600 feet of it.
But residents living within a mile aren’t okay with the plans and voiced their worries about the development for two hours during a March 28 city council meeting.
“My concern is when they put in this new development that they’re talking about that this is going to amp the amount of traffic load on here,” Linda Cowell, a 17-year resident of the Oaks III neighborhood, located north of the proposed theater site, told KFOR.com. “Oh yes, it’s absolutely changed the dynamics of this space and what we all intended this space to be.”
Some residents claim they are planning to file a lawsuit arguing the theater doesn’t meet OKC’s housing and economic development master plans before a May 9 deadline.
“It talks about things like preserving the rural character of rural neighborhood, preserving the ecosystem, helping to maintain sustainability, not doing anything to damage neighborhoods on purpose,” Porter Davis told KFOR.com.
For now, residents can avoid noxious popcorn smells and the ever-annoying sound of kids slowly opening the plastic bags inside their boxes of gummy bears unless they’re unlucky enough to drive only a couple miles down the road to the AMC Quail Springs Mall 24 or AMC Classic Northpark 7 movie theaters to otherwise enjoy a summer blockbuster.
