Aiming to reduce the number of vacant storefronts downtown, the City Council agreed Wednesday to begin allowing furniture stores on Grand Avenue and to let new tenants occupy vacant buildings earmarked for developments delayed by the recession.

Immediate effects of the zoning changes are expected to include a furniture store taking over an abandoned antique mall just west of Palomar Medical Center and a tenant occupying the vacant Wells Fargo Bank building on Escondido Boulevard, city officials said.

The owner of the former antique mall, which has been vacant for two years, said the prohibition against furniture stores and other zoning issues had made it nearly impossible to find a tenant.

Barbara Redlitz, the city's assistant planning director, said the Wells Fargo building had been vacant because no interim uses had been permitted since the city approved a residential development for the site. But that development has been delayed indefinitely by the recession.

Council members praised the changes, which also loosen rules governing where churches can locate. They also asked planning officials to explore expanding downtown's prime retail corridor farther east toward the hospital.

The Downtown Business Association, a lobbying group for merchants, helped city officials craft the changes, Redlitz said.

Churches will now be allowed to locate downtown, but they will still be barred from the Grand Avenue retail corridor because they are typically dormant several days per week and because the presence of churches would complicate things for bars and restaurants that serve alcohol, Redlitz said.

Approval of a proposal to encourage more painted murals on buildings was postponed because the Planning Commission raised questions about how to define murals. Redlitz said the mural proposal would come to the council in the future along with a second set of zoning changes that are in the works.

Downtown vacancies have reached record levels during the recession and have prompted calls for drastic action, such as reductions in merchant fees, allowing lawyers to locate on Grand and more liberal rules for dividing large buildings up. But none of those proposals was discussed Wednesday.

In other business, the council:

-- agreed to spend $614,000 on energy-efficiency improvements to city buildings that are projected to save the city millions of dollars in the long-term. Buildings that will be retrofitted include City Hall, the Joslyn Center, the performing arts center, the East Valley Community Center and the Washington Park pool;

-- agreed to participate in a national program helping residential and commercial property owners install solar power systems;

-- approved a labor contract for firefighters that includes 6 percent raises and higher overtime compensation, but which reduces holiday pay and requires firefighters to cover their own pension contributions. The contract is expected to save the city $315,000 per year;

-- heard testimony from an employee slated to be laid off that city officials attempt to skirt seniority rules when making layoffs by eliminating entire departments; and

-- honored retired planning chief Jon Brindle for nearly 30 years of service. Brindle received a standing ovation from the audience.

Call staff writer David Garrick at 760-740-5468.