Fredericton council approves $125K for design phase of performing arts centre

Fredericton city council has approved $125,000 to choose the firm that will createa conceptual design for the city's new performing arts centre.

It's the first step forwardsincecouncil approved a design procurement process in June 2018.

Greg MacFarlane, president of the Fredericton Playhouse, said he is gladto seethe project moving forward.

"This is something the community will build once in 100years, so it's important to engage the community and to make sure they have their say in that process," he said.

The new performing arts centre will be built on Queen Street,where the current Playhouse is located. The new buildingwill also integrate with the Fredericton Convention Centre.

A steering committee will oversee the design phase of the project and pick the successful design firm.

Council voted Monday night based ona request fromMacFarlane to appoint Coun. Bruce Grandy to the committee.

Grandysaysgetting a conceptual design createdwill be important tosecuring money from Ottawa and the province.

"What would you commit to if you can't see what it looks like or understand what its scope is?" he said.

More money on the line

The City of Fredericton has already committed$14 million to replace the Playhouse, but the total cost of the project is an estimated$45 million.

Coun.Stephen Chase voted against the planm saying he'sconcerned about the overall cost of the theatre project.

• Fredericton Playhouse will be rebuilt on existing property
• Government stalling, politics put Playhouse project at risk, supporters say

"The concept that we put on the table relies fully on the support of the federal and provincial government coming to the table," Chase said.

"I'm hopeful that those two orders of government will come to the table, but I haven't seen any evidence of that so far."

A long way to go

But Grandysaid there's still a lot of work to be done before other levels of government get involved.

Hefigures it will be 2020 before the building's conceptual design is back before council.

"We have a lot of steps to go, we have a ways to go," he said. "So this is, again, phasing."

Coun. Eric Megarity also voted against the plan Monday night.

While Megaritysupports the need for a new performing arts centre, he wondered whether council has its priorities straight given the severe spring flooding overthe past two years.

"The large amount of money we're dedicating to that facility, in the meantime we can divert some of that to look at flood mitigation, helping people adapt," he said.