They won't be popping popcorn anytime soon at a proposed 14-screen movie theater in south Napa.

Flooding issues could delay the Cinedome theater, which will anchor a major commercial and residential development next to South Napa Marketplace, Gasser Foundation president Joe Peatman told the Napa Planning Commission Thursday night.

The commission endorsed the Gasser master plan for a 2,030-seat theater as part of 250,000 square feet of commercial development and 380-500 units of housing.

Gasser wants the movie house to jump-start the project, but flooding problems are turning out to be more complex than first thought, Peatman said.

The Gasser Foundation also has to negotiate with new corporate officials following the recent sale of San Rafael's Century Theatres, owner of downtown Napa's Cinedome, to Cinemark USA Inc. of Plano, Texas.

"There are some significant issues with Gasser and the theater," principally how to provide flood protection, Peatman told commissioners.

In September, Peatman spoke optimistically of starting construction of a new Cinedome within a year or two. Now Peatman isn't making any predictions.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently threw a monkey wrench into Gasser's plans, saying the city must first ask the federal agency to remap the city's flood zones as they affect the 80-acre Gasser property.

FEMA flood insurance maps currently show the property lying within the Napa River's floodway, commonly described as a "no-build" zone.

The Napa River flood control project will ultimately protect the entire site, but construction of flood defenses is running years behind schedule due to insufficient federal funding.

Because of recent river terracing next to Gasser land and new levees, Gasser and city officials believe the southern part of the property qualifies to be taken out of the floodway now.

The northern half of the property, where the housing would be built, is considered unbuildable until the flood project is completed. This is at least four or five years away.

If the southern acreage is taken out of the floodway and put in the less restrictive flood plain, the theater and some retail and offices could be built sooner, officials said.

Napa is asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide FEMA with the technical data to support the city's remapping request, said Graham Wadsworth, a city engineer who deals with flood plain issues.

In another complicating development, flooding from Tulocay Creek, which cuts through Gasser lands, could be much greater than first thought, Peatman said.

The Gasser Foundation may have to pay for studies to map out the enhanced flood risk before the theater can be built, he said.

While construction of a new theater could be delayed, there is no immediate risk of Napa being without a movie house, officials said.

The eight-screen downtown Cinedome was scheduled to close when the flood project begins construction of a bypass channel that would wipe out most of its parking. Because of funding delays, bypass construction now isn't planned to start until 2009, with no guarantees the schedule won't slip further.

There is time to build a replacement theater, Cassandra Walker, the city's economic development manager, said Friday. "It's not a case of their being kicked out of their existing location," she said.

In theory, the downtown Cinedome could continue to operate without an adjacent parking lot while a south Napa theater is built, Walker said.

The Gasser Foundation and Century Theatres had originally proposed a new 2,500-seat theater facing Imola, west of Gasser Drive.

The theater has since been scaled back to 2,030 seats to reduce the need for parking, and has been reoriented to face Hartle Court, with its back to Imola.

To make the building look good to motorists coming on and off the Maxwell Bridge, the rear will need design and landscaping enhancements, commissioners said.

The commission endorsed the Gasser project master plan and its environmental impact report Thursday, with the City Council to hold a public hearing on Nov. 21.

The EIR said the project would have significant traffic impacts on eight south Napa intersections. The city and Gasser will have to agree on mitigation measures to keep traffic flowing and how to pay for them.

Gasser is asking the city to pick up some traffic mitigation costs by creating a special facilities tax district and a new redevelopment project along the Soscol Avenue corridor.

City staff is studying both proposals as a way of improving area traffic and solving flooding problems that will remain along Soscol even after the river project is done. Traffic and flooding issues have thwarted development in the area, city officials believe.

Gasser and its development partners will have to apply for additional permits once flood problems are solved. Each residential and commercial component will have its own public hearing.