Halls: Love ’em or leave ’em
As the community gears up for Small Halls Festival this weekend, the future is once again uncertain.
We found out last week that the lowest tender for the Avening Hall renovation came in at $654,000, plus engineering. That is a lot of money, and $200,000 more than estimated. The tender has yet to go before council for official discussion but people are asking questions. How much money can we put into these facilities? How can we reduce the cost?
It is important to remember that the township started out on this path to accessibility because of legislation that requires all publically owned buildings be barrier-free by 2025. The concept is great. Pulling it off has proven to be very difficult and costly.
In 2013, council was given the option of investing in the halls or shutting them down. They chose to keep them open, despite the necessary investment.
To be fair, council had no idea the size of the price tags they would face. Two years ago, the township applied for a grant that would help pay for the renovation to Avening Hall but the application was made using estimates from a 2012 facilities assessment that estimated the accessibility renovation would cost $225,000. The report estimated another $500,000 in renovations are needed at halls in Brentwood, Dunedin, Nottawa, Duntroon and Sunnidale Corners. We now know that we should probably triple that estimate.
These halls, although owned by the municipality, have been operated and maintained by volunteers. In some cases, they were built by community members, using donated materials and volunteer labour. Fundraising and user fees pay the bills. They have operated under the radar in many ways with very few or no issues.
Right after the 2013 council decision to invest in the halls, the Small Halls Festival was launched. We are now going into the third year and council has invested in the event substantially. We don’t know exactly how much money is flowing through the event annually but it is upwards of $50,000. Some of the funds are coming from this year’s municipal budget, some from sponsorships and a large portion is from grants.
We have invested so much in the halls and the festival, we almost have no choice but to march onward. Otherwise, it will feel like all that money, not to mention time and energy, will be wasted.
These numbers tell us that if we were to let all the halls go, that they be sold off, we would not be able to afford to build any kind of public space. Those days are gone. We know other communities regret doing just that.
So, get out this weekend and experience the magic of one of Clearview’s halls. See for yourself if they are worth spending more than $1 million to make barrier-free. If we decide they are aren’t worth the investment, they will have to close eventually. For now, we can celebrate community and the best of rural living.
