The price tag for the city land located at Washington and Culver boulevards totaled $1.8 mllion An additional $200,000 will be paid to the city for traffic mitigation efforts by the developers.

"This is a very difficult decision," Councilwoman Sandi Levin said in addressing a packed council chambers. "Yes, we are gambling, but we're doing the best to stack the deck first."

The Town Plaza plan calls for a 16-screen movie theater with 3,200 seats and 190,000 square feet of space earmarked for restaurants, stores, offices and a Trader Joe's.

Some opponents, sporting "Listen to the People" buttons at the meeting, felt the project should be scaled down. Others said the entertainment center shouldn't be in so close to Lynwood Howe Elementary School. And yet more contended the megaplex would destroy the "character and small-town" feel of Culver City.

"We're gambling that this will attract moviegoers," said resident Mac Douglas. "Can we compete against the Third Street Promenade, Westwood, Century City?"

"Our own City Council calls us dumb and dumber," Dennis David said. "But we will not see a net income until 2015."

At the podium, former Planning Commissioner Ted Smith suggested the city lease the land to Oliver McMillan rather than sell it to them so that the city will have more control.

"The agency would receive less money through a lease than through a sale" answered Mark Wardlaw, the city's deputy community development director."

At the end of the meeting, Levin voiced her concerns about the possibility of the Safe School Zones Initiative passing through city ballot.

Citizens for a Livable Culver City are currently collecting signatures to put the initiative on the April ballot. It calls for a (sic) 500-foot buffer zone between Culver City public schools and commercial development. Under the proposed land-use requirement, the project's movie theater would be too close to Lynwood Howe.

With regard to the initiative, Chief Administrative Officer Mark Winogrond explained that the developer has three choices--either take the risk, pull out of the project or share the cost of any financial losses it may bring.

In his closing statements, Councilman David Hauptman accused Citizens for a Livable Culver City of using schoolchildren to put a cap on the project.

"All five of us agree that this is the best possible project for the city." Hauptman said. "So to weasel around with these cockamamie initiatives and to call it 'safe schools,' that's the part I resent."

The city's next step on the project is to iron out the more detailed plans of the project with the developer, said Wardlow. The Planning Commission will be looking at entitlement procedures, including zone codes and conditional-use permits.