Sometimes building for the future means having to make a tough, and potentially unpopular choice today.
As the Town continues to study plans for a performing arts centre, it needs to move beyond the Creamery site along Riverside Drive.
It’s a inviting idea, an arts centre and theatre in the heart of the river valley and in the centre of the community. Unfortunately, it’s going to cost $2.2 mitigate against potential flooding from the river on one side and sound from the train tracks on the other. It’s a lot of money, but Coun. Carrie Fischer points out, it will be less than the cost of buying land somewhere else. Still, it’s a definite strike against building between the river and train tracks.
Really, council should be looking to the future as it sets administration out to draw up yet another feasibility study, this time for a 700-seat theatre. The Town needs to build a theatre that will suit its needs 15 – 20 years into the future.
A performing arts centre built on the creamery site could be a showcase for the downtown area, or it could be cramped and limited.
If annexation is approved, there could be plenty more locations available to the Town. Council should be looking at all options, not just the Creamery site.
