After a lengthy discussion, the city's general committee voted to proceed with exploring the revamp of the W.A. Fisher Auditorium at the Barrie Central.
The debate about the redevelopment proposal for a cultural and events centre lasted more than two hours Monday night.
Ultimately councillors said a resounding yes to a plan to allow city staff to review seed funding options with the intent of attracting sponsorship, investment and grant funding.
The W.A. Fisher Performing Arts Centre would have a 650-seat theatre with an adjoining event space that would seat 450 people.
The price tag has climbed to between $17.3 million and $19.3 million, up from initial projections of $13 million.
The project is also subject to an agreement with HIP Developments, which currently owns the Barrie Central site.
Jeremy Freiburger with Cobalt Connects presented a study to council about the cultural, social and economic impact of the project.
Cobalt Connects is a non-profit organization that has worked with Ontario municipatilies on their cultural strategies an facilitiies for 15 years.
The group worked closely with LET Architects and local stakeholders groups in the project.
Council was told the multi-functional design of the centre would support a variety of events including dance, film, theatre, music, conferences, events and gaming and would provide a home base for four organizations as resident companies.
The projected economic impact from the study would almost double the economic impact of the Georgian Theatres, currently projected at $2.24 million versus $4.01 million for Fisher.
"For me this site works for a lot of reasons," said Freiburger.
General committee's recommendation goes to city council for final approval next Monday but all councillors supported the idea with some concerns.
Mayor Jeff Lehman agreed there were issues that needed to be worked out be he said the city's west end would benefit from the project.
"Councillors have made the points for the potential for this to be an anchor for the west end of downtown in the most positive way. This is the end of the downtown where public investment is needed," said Lehman.
Lehman told council that the city is in discussions with the YMCA about possibly putting its facility at the Barrie Central site.
The Mayor was particularly excited about the new technology included in a revived W.A. Fisher Auditorium.
If the plan becomes a reality, the Georgian Theatre would close.
"We are losing out on events in Barrie both on business side and performing arts side because we don't have a theatre with proper technology. I'm really pleased to hear councillors saying if were going to to do it do it right."
In his closing remarks he summed up "For the past 60 years it has been the civic heart of community and can be again."
The general committee gave city staff the initial go-ahead to investigate hiring a 'professional fundraiser' to create a sponsorship program for a portion of the capital project and the potential alignment with the existing sponsorship pilot program.
Staff in the Creative Economy and Legal Services Departments were authorized to explore an operating model for proposed centre based on a collaborative structure between City staff and not-for-profit arts organizations.
"I'm in favour of moving forward on this but I definitely want to do this right," said Councillor Mike McCann who peppered city staff with questions and concerns.
"To me, this is going to be flawed. This is a lot of money. We may be going down a slippery slope. I feel your vision is too narrow. Is it big enough? Is it the right place? Georgian Theatre is not sold out. Mady is not sold out. Get a leader. We don’t run theatres well."
There were questions raised about parking but Councillor Rose Romita said she was not concerned.
"In conjunction with HIP and if the Y as anything to do with it, they're going to need a lot of parking. Definitely, I don't think were going to have a problem there," Romita said.
"For conferences, I think this is great. I go to conferences and think, wow, this is smaller than Barrie.Why don't we have something like this in Barrie? We have the facility. We have the beautiful lakefront. So why don't we utiliise that."
W.A. Fisher Auditorium was a successful community-funded initiative that provided both Barrie Central Collegiate and the broader Barrie community with a purpose-built space for large and varied performances.
As originally constructed the auditorium held approximately 990 seats. While this number was later reduced to approximately 960 seats the Fisher Auditorium was, until its closure, the largest public performing space in Barrie and the surrounding region
"It's something we need," said Councillor Doug Shipley in support of the renovation.
"I think this is a fantastic opportunity for the city. This kind of opportunity doesn't come along very often," said Councillor Bonnie Ainsworth.
