It’s been 20 years since the City of Lethbridge identified a new performing arts centre as a priority during a Facility Needs Assessment, and on Monday city council extended the process even further.
Presenters from the Performing Arts Centre Advocacy Group asked city council to defeat a motion on Monday’s agenda that would discontinue the project from the current Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the current four-year cycle, 2018-2021.
“They identified 20 years ago that we did not have sufficient facilities to meet the growing needs of the arts in Lethbridge, and so this was identified as a project that the city put as a priority into some of their needs assessment plans and facility studies,” said Dianne King, who presented on behalf of the Performing Arts Centre Advocacy Group.
“As a result, they have also invested close to a million dollars in studies that have proven that indeed this need does exist,” she said.
Ultimately, council decided to postpone further on Monday, voting unanimously in favour of a referral motion that asks the steering committee for a recommendation back to council on Nov. 2.
“What we wanted to clarify was, if this money was to go ahead, is there a clear plan? We had funded detailed drawings — basically to make it shovel ready — and you don’t want to have those drawings done five to ten years before construction,” said Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman.
“We need to make sure that there’s a clear plan, with a timeline, and a clear expectation of how many dollars are expected from the City of Lethbridge, and how many dollars will be coming from elsewhere,” he said.
King says the group will be more than prepared to present their recommendation on Nov. 2, and said that they also understand that the financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic have caused the city to re-evaluate CIP projects.
“That’s why we are alright with taking our time to get this done,” she said. “However, it has been a priority, it is the next most important thing for a capital project for the city, and ultimately there will be culture dollars available through the provincial and federal governments, and we just want to make sure that we are shovel ready when that time comes.”
Spearman said the committee has talked about a $100 million project, and that is something council will have to consider very seriously.
If the project was to ultimately be discontinued by city council for the current CIP, Monday’s proposed motion stated that it could be resubmitted for consideration in the next Capital Improvement Plan.
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