With heels firmly dug into the ground, Collingwood town council split its vote twice in as many hours, leaving the arts centre adrift without so much as a breeze to carry it one way or the other.
A potential future Collingwood arts centre was part of the council agenda on July 14, and again it came with impassioned deputations and letters arguing the significance a centre would make for the lives of people living and coming to Collingwood, young and old.
The City of Barrie, meanwhile, also has similar plans for a performing arts centre at the waterfront, with costs pegged at around $65 million.
At Collingwood council, a package of 49 letters was tacked onto the council agenda, with 42 expressing “unwavering support” for an arts centre in Collingwood, five letters that like the idea of an arts centre, but don’t want it downtown, and two letters against building an arts centre.
Chuck Austin, a retired chartered accountant and one of the authors of the business plan for the Winspear Centre in Edmonton attended the July 14 council meeting and volunteered to work with town staff to come up with a business plan that places “less of a burden” on the town, taxpayers and council for an arts centre.
Cadence Brassard, a 15-year-old organist who lives in the Collingwood area and has now performed twice for the Collingwood Music Festival delivered her own presentation to council explaining the struggle she had to find space where she could practice, learn, and perform.
“So what happens when artists have no audience?” she asked council. “Quite simply, the arts fade without community support.”
Though she decided to fight hard to find and master the pipe organ at only 11 years old, she knows not everyone can do the same.
“When people don’t have access, they don’t even have a chance,” she said. “An arts and culture centre in Collingwood could change that.”
Chelsea Coulter told council she grew up in Collingwood and has made her career around the arts, including in theatre, coaching cheerleading, as a member of a band, and in continuing to take dance classes.
Performing in front of a crowd was always her favourite part of her arts, and something she always had to leave town for.
She travels now, to Meaford, for her daughter’s dance recitals.
“Doesn’t this seem silly to you?” she asked council. “We need both an arts centre and a multi-use recreation facility. I recognize and support both and I believe we can have both.”
Thomas Vincent and Richard Lemoine spoke to council on behalf of the Collingwood Arts Culture and Entertainment group, reminding council of the offer from the group to help raise funds.
“As far as we’re concerned, unless we can raise the funds, this project wouldn’t go ahead,” said Lemoine. “Let us help the town guide this process without any additional taxpayer dollars.”
And yet, council was not moved.
The decision on the council table was about what to do now that the town has the final report from the third phase of the arts centre feasibility study.
The arts centre steering committee and the town’s consultant, Colliers, came to council on June 9 with a proposal for a 43,000 square-foot building with flexible space that could be used as a theatre for up to 600 people and/or it could be used by any size group for any gathering event, class, performance, or otherwise. The total cost would be $67.4 million with the expectation of grant funding to help pay for the new build and future operations.
The report recommended building the centre at 48 Ste. Marie Street, which is currently a town-owned parking lot with 72 spots, located almost on the corner with Simcoe Street.
There were two unanimous votes to "receive" the latest consultant's report on the arts centre and order a parking study started this year and finished next year. But that ended the agreement on the arts centre discussion around the council table.
First, council voted 4-4 to defeat a motion to defer any more steps toward an arts centre until the town finishes its long-term strategic financial planning so an arts centre can be added to the planning to determine whether the town can afford it.
Deputy Mayor Tim Fryer, with Councillors Kathy Jeffery, Rob Ring and Chris Potts were in favour of this option, while Mayor Yvonne Hamlin and Councillors Deb Doherty, Steve Perry and Christopher Baines were against it.
“I'm going to be very clear that, from the very outset … a downtown location in a parking lot is a non-starter, and that continues to be the case for me,” said Jeffery, citing the need for parking in close proximity to the Hurontario Street businesses on the other side of the Ste. Marie St. parking lot.
She said she also didn’t want to make any more financial commitments to a future arts centre without the town’s long-term strategic planning.
“Someone said to me, put a positive on this. Well, the positive is that it wasn't ‘no,’ it was that we have to put it in the mix with everything else we have to do,” said Jeffery, adding she thought it was reasonable for council to take more time to make sure the town can cover “the basic things” first.
Fryer also didn’t want to commit more money to the project at this time, suggesting that if his idea of forming a finance sub-committee was supported when he raised it two-and-a-half years ago, the long-term strategic financial plan would probably already be done.
Potts referred to a slew of correspondence sent to council over the arts centre, particularly to the four members of council who voted not to move forward with the centre right now.
Potts said he was one of four councillors told they are “turning the town dark,” but he argued an increase in taxes for an arts centre would be turning the town dark.
“I have to stand and support our local businesses in the downtown area that are hanging on by every thread,” he said.
Baines tried to mediate his peers as a stalemate built, suggesting the way forward would be to test the waters of financial support from the community, and ask the arts centre supporters to pledge money.
“I think that’s healthier for all of us than what this does, which just perpetuates frustration,” he said.
Ring said the 48 Ste. Marie St. choice was a deal breaker.
“We keep saying we’ll replace the parking lot … we don’t need to replace the parking lot. We need that parking lot plus additional parking lots,” he said.
Doherty tried to remind council they weren’t making any final decisions on whether or not the town will build an arts centre, only using money that’s already in a reserve fund for an arts centre to see if the financial support is out there.
“[This] is a decision to advance the project, to tighten the budget, to create a business plan, and certainly a call to action to our community to put their money where their mouths are, essentially, and come forward with pledges to support this project,” said Doherty, adding an arts centre was not supposed to be funded solely by taxes.
Hamlin tackled the parking debate.
“There’s a misconception that if we move forward to the next step, we are somehow taking away parking in our downtown,” she said. “That’s not the case … any construction could not begin on the arts centre unless we have parking for that arts centre and to replace the parking that would be lost.”
She cited the town’s downtown visioning study, which recommends more “activation” in the downtown in the evening and throughout the year, and upgrading and adding to “Creative Simcoe Street,” which includes 48 Ste. Marie Street.
“For an infill project, whether it’s one house or an art’s centre, if there are neighbours, we’re going to hear complaints,” said Hamlin, noting the town’s downtown parking lots are “prime real estate” she expects will be developed in the future.
Councillor Ian MacCulloch has declared a conflict on the arts centre matter because his father-in-law, Sid Dickinson, owns the Gayety Theatre building downtown. MacCulloch does not participate in the discussion or voting on the arts centre.
The 4-4 split carried over to the next vote, which took a few attempts to get to the table, but was originally proposed by Doherty.
This time, Fryer, Jeffery, Ring and Potts were against a motion to keep things moving with the arts centre by hiring a project manager, fundraiser and infrastructure advisor to start working on a fundraising plan for a future arts centre, for a total cost of $420,000 taken from the town's arts centre reserve fund, which is sitting at about $1.3 million. The reserve was created using money from the sale of the town's electrical utilities to EPCOR.
“I'm desperately trying to find some common ground,” said Doherty, a couple hours into the discussion and after a 20-minute break.
Baines asked if other councillors would support the idea as long as it was for a “location to be determined” and not for 48 Ste. Marie St.
Hamlin said people couldn’t get financial pledges without some kind of commitment from council on where the arts centre would go.
“Why even spend the time talking about it,” said Hamlin. “How are we ever going to find a location? … we've had consultants looking at this out the ying-yang.”
Ring brought up the Leisure Time Centre, which had been turned down twice by the consultants as being too costly a site. CAO Sonya Skinner reminded council the water pipeline delivering drinking water to New Tecumseth runs under the parking lot, and would have to be moved, or accommodated in the build, potentially adding a lot of cost to the total.
Jeffery asked why the town was expected to own the building and assume the risk.
“Why can’t they fund their own fundraising?” she asked, referring to the arts centre advocates in the community. “I’ve had other organizations say, you never hired us a fundraiser or a project manager … why this particular group?”
Doherty reiterated the project should depend on proof of support through financial pledges, but that some steps from council were required so the community could be solicited.
“I see this as not only seeking support in the community, which I think, in the view of this council, is mandatory,” she said. “But that [fundraising] consultant could be pursuing other fundraising avenues like naming rights, grants … in addition … that same talent could be applied to the development of our multi-use recreation facility.”
Neither side was able to move their counterparts, so both motions failed.
The two tie votes mean that, for now, council has given no direction for any further steps other than to acknowledge the report by consultants. Nothing will be done on the arts centre unless a direction is given by council.
It’s possible any member of council could bring the issue back up again with a notice of motion at a future meeting.