Kincardine Councillors and residents wanting both a new performing arts centre and to keep the historic town hall building can now have it both ways.
The Theatre Guild and businessman Bryan Walden have a plan for a new six million dollar, three story, 300 seat theatre addition on the building.
The proposal is to build it at the south side of the building and demolish the former 1950’s era fire hall next to Durham Market South.
Theatre Guild President Shirley Bieman says it would have a glass foyer offering a view of Lake Huron.
They are planning to apply for a federal/provincial arts grant for not-for-profit groups to make it happen.
It would cover two-thirds of the cost, and the rest would be fund-raised.
Walden and his supporters had wanted the old building torn down and replaced with an entirely new facility, but council had opposed the idea and plans to use a government stimulus grant to restore the exterior.
When it came time for council to pass a motion supporting Walden and the Theatre Guild’s plans, enthusiasm dampened.
The original motion read that the municipality would be responsible for the cost until the grant money arrived, and that it would be on the hook for any shortfalls in fundraising.
The possibility of having to cover those costs doesn’t impress Councillor Guy Anderson or Mayor Larry Kraemer.
Councillor Randy Roppel is also concerned about the municipality having to fund the development of what would be a privately-owned building, but connected to the municipally-owned town hall.
The motion passed was amended to just say council supports the plan in principle, with no mention of financial details.
Councillor Ron Hewitt says they didn’t have all of the information before the motion came to a vote.
He doesn’t think it was fair to ask council to back the whole plan in that way.
Mayor Larry Kraemer says if the municipality had to pick up the slack on fundraising, it would only make potential donors think they didn’t need to contribute because of public money funding the project anyway.
Kraemer says the last-minute surprise with the contents of the motion are due to the rushed nature of the process.
The Theatre Guild is trying to meet the August 18 application deadline for the grant it wants.
The mayor says usually, staff would have had time to go over the details and inform councillors before the meeting.
Chief Administrative Officer John de Rosenroll says the financial details might have been necessary to have in the motion in order to make the grant application successful.
Bieman says she’ll now have to take a close look at what details are needed in the grant application and will see what happens.