Woodstock Cinema to Expand

Last night the owners of Woodstock Cinema unveiled a plan to expand their movie theater from four screens to seven screens. Mr. and Mrs. Willis Johnson were at the City Council meeting, and Mr. Johnson described the history of his theater chain and the history of the Woodstock Theater.

Three years ago he purchased the property at 223 Main St., just north of the city-owned parking lot next to the theater. That building, which is vacant now, will be demolished. The present theater building will be expanded north to add three new screens, and a narrow lane will remain between the north wall of the new addition and the existing, newly-exposed wall of existing building next door to 223 Main Street. He believes there is no common wall to that next-door building and explained that he will be responsible for the proper removal of his building that he wants to tear down. For the deal to fly, the City would have to sell him the 15-space parking lot now next door to the movie theater.

He expects attendance to increase by 100,000/year, and he provided figures to the City Council on estimated increases sales taxes and property taxes that he expects to pay. The perpetual question of parking arose. The parking problem obviously already exists and is not being solved, and Mr. Johnson offered to help with education about parking, which he has done in the communities of some of his other 11 theaters.

One solution to parking needed by customers of stores on Main Street, where they just drop in for 5-10 minutes, would be short-term parking spaces - spaces with parking for 15-20 minutes only. Then a customer of, say, a framing shop might find a place to park when she drops off a print for framing or stops to pick it up.

Many customers tie up parking spaces for hours while they attend a movie and a meal on the Square. Mayor Sager stated there are 1,400 parking spaces within one block of the Square. Now that's a map I'd like to see!

Three cheers to the Johnson family for their family-friendly movie theater plans.