On Monday night, the City Council approved an amendment to the industrial zoning district, clearing the way for a movie theater to be built on County Road.

Manchester, N.H., based Zyacorp has announced its plans to build a new 16-screen stadium movie theater on 36 acres off County Road. The amendment to the industrial zone was necessary for the project to move forward because theaters were not specifically allowed in the district.

No one from the public spoke at a public hearing held by the council regarding the amendment, and councilors voted, 7-0, to approve the change.

City Planner Brooks More told councilors that while indoor recreational businesses were permitted in the industrial zone, the city staff felt since theaters were specifically addressed in other zones in the city, it would be best to make the change to keep the city’s zoning consistent.

Zyacorp must still go before the Planning Board to get site plan approval for the project, More said. He said the board would probably require Zyacorp to conduct a traffic study to gauge the theater’s effect on the area as part of the approval process.

The County Road theater, which would be open sometime next year, would be the fourth Cinemagic theater for Zyacorp. The company already runs a 12-screen theater on Route 1 in Saco, as well as a 12-screen theater in Merrimack, N.H., and a nine-screen complex in Salisbury, Mass.

In a previous interview, Zyacorp President Mark Adam said the Westbrook Cinemagic would be a state of the art theater. The new theater will feature stadium seating, high backed rocking chairs and other amenities such as automatic ticketing.

The only place in Westbrook for residents to see first run movies without leaving the city now is the Prides Corner Drive-In on Bridgton Road, but that is open only in the summer months. There was a movie theater in the former Bradlees plaza, but that closed in the early 1990s.