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Kincardine council has endorsed a grant application by the
Kincardine Theatre Guild (KTG) to apply for a grant to put a
$6-million addition on the old town hall for a new arts centre.
The municipality is also prepared to commit the $1-million arts
centre endowment fund toward the project, with KTG bringing in
donations of $1 million, and the provincial and federal governments
providing the remaining $4 million through an Infrastructure
Stimulus Fund grant for non-profit organizations.
But that is all the municipality is going to do.
After lengthy discussion about KTG's proposal in
committee-of-the-whole, council supported the grant application, but
when it came time for final approval at the end of the meeting,
council was shocked to discover that its endorsement included
handing over the building to the KTG, providing bridge financing of
$6 million until all the grant money and donations come in, covering
any fund-raising shortfall by the KTG, and covering borrowing costs
for any work not completed by the March, 2011, deadline.
Clerk Donna MacDougall explained that these extras are required to
make the proposal compliant under the grant application criteria.
"This is just the first stage of a very long process," said deputy
mayor Laura Haight. "Let's give them (KTG) the opportunity to make
the application. It's like any other grant application, it does not
commit us to the project. We have not received all the grants we've
applied for (in the past) or all the funds. We can deal with the
financing and funding later."
"I have a problem guaranteeing any shortfall in fund-raising," said
councillor Guy Anderson. "We've been there before."
Mayor Larry Kraemer said he understood that if the fund-raising
falls short, the project becomes smaller. "The KTG is committed to
raising its share. I cannot support guaranteeing money if the
fund-raising is short," he said.
"It's a municipal building," said councillor Randy Roppel. "We can't
give it away."
"These are the terms in the application to make it compliant," said
chief administrative officer John deRosenroll. "Well it should have
been explained that way," said Kraemer.
"I don't agree with the ownership part but we should give them the
opportunity to apply for the grant," said councillor Mike Leggett.
"Then we can spend four or five meetings beating the hell out of the
rest of it."
"What happens if we just endorse the application but not the rest?"
asked Haight.
"It's staff's view that the application is groundless unless we meet
all the conditions," said deRosenroll. "Without that, KTG would be
submitting a non-compliant application. Council's direction to staff
was to come up with an application that would hold water."
"We should maintain the intent of what our support was for this
project," said Kraemer. "We should remove the obligation to supply
any money not fund-raised."
"We're committing political suicide by giving this building away,"
said Roppel. "You're not really considering letting this group have
this building?"
"The municipality controls the land, so the municipality would
control the agreement (for the building on the land)," said Kraemer.
"I don't like it either."
"I don't like the idea we agreed to it but didn't know the details,"
said Anderson. "I'm concerned about not owning the building. Is that
a requirement for the structure?"
"Yes," said deRosenroll.
"They can own it, as long as they pay for it," said councillor
Gordon Campbell. "If they put up their $1 million, fine." (next column)
12/08/2009 11:20 PM
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Haight suggested amending the motion to read only that council supports
the grant application and the $1 million commitment from the
municipality. "That is as far as you can expect council to go in just
two weeks' time," she said. "Send in the application and see where it
goes."
Council approved the amended motion, supporting the proposal to apply
for the grant, and committing the $1 million to the project.
During discussion of the project earlier in the meeting, KTG president
Shirley Bieman said the theatre guild has been operating "in the black"
since 1982 and has 100 members.
"We would like to host the Western Ontario Drama League Festival in
Kincardine but we need a 250-seat theatre to do so," she said.
She pointed out that over its 27-year existence, the KTG has poured
about $300,000 into the Kincardine economy, and about $6 million in
spin-off benefits.
As a financially-sound non-profit group, it agreed to spearhead the
process for obtaining grant money in order to build an addition to the
old town hall which is the current Kincardine Arts Centre.
Mhairi Walsh, a KTG member, said a new theatre would provide a proper
venue for all the arts groups in town - a venue that is
acoustically-sound and visually-pleasing. The new facility would also
have retractable seating, allowing for a flat floor for other events.
Bryan Walden, who brought the idea forward at the Aug. 5 council
meeting, said the provincial/federal grant money for arts centres has
not been available in the past and likely won't be in the future. "The
whole community will benefit from this project," he said. "My only
concern is that you are building onto a heritage structure. I would
recommend adding $200,000 to $300,000 to the budget which, when matched
by the other two governments, would give you almost another $1 million
to help with the renovations."
The proposal is to remove the old fire hall and add the new theatre to
the south side of the old town hall. Kincardine has already received
provincial/federal funds to renovate the heritage aspects of the old
town hall.
"Where will you get additional parking for this?" asked Anderson.
"Additional parking would come from the old W.E. Thompson School site
which has training centre parking now," said Walden. "Or we could have
additional parking along the main street which is not fully used at
night."
"If you tore down the old town hall, what would your $6 million get
you?" asked councillor Ron Hewitt.
"It would be smaller than what I proposed earlier," said Walden. "We
would remove the tower and other parts of the proposal to fit the
budget. I had not thought of that, though. Our direction was an addition
because there is a strong interest in the municipality to maintain the
heritage building."
Councillor Kenneth Craig asked if the two projects - renovation and the
addition - could be tagged together.
"I assumed we could," said Walden.
"This is a heritage building and you have to respect that," said Roppel.
"Tearing down that building, in many circles, is taboo."
He also wondered how council was going make a decision on spending
millions of dollars on this project when it couldn't even decide on
whether to keep three historical Bruce Township signs during discussion
earlier in the meeting.
Kraemer reminded council that once it collapses the $1-million endowment
fund, there is no interest to pay the operating costs on the old town
hall. So, council will have to consider what those operating costs
actually are and budget for them.
"This is really a no-brainer," said Leggett. "We already have the $1
million specifically for this project; they raise $1 million; and the
federal and provincial governments give us the rest. We're already
putting $5 million into that white elephant of a Davidson Centre. I bet
the theatre is up before the addition is finished."
"We have to remember that it's not the municipality's application," said
deRosenroll. "The KTG is the non-profit group putting in the
application."
"There are two other groups affected by this, the Victoria Park Gallery
and the Woodturners Guild," said Kraemer. "What happens to them?"
"We will have a location for all user groups in the new building," said
Walsh. "They will all be accommodated, and hopefully many more."
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