Fredericton councillor suggests fresh look at Playhouse's future

Rather than looking forward to a new performing arts centre, one Fredericton city councillor is thinking about keeping the old one.

After a recent report by the city's finance and administration committee, Coun. Greg Ericson wondered whether refurbishing a heating and cooling system at the Fredericton Playhouse would be better than building a brand new performance centre.

The report revealed that workers have been patching up problems as they happen at the theatre. and the building's heating system also failed twice this past year.

"At the early stages of the process there were lots of options being floated," Ericson said. "I'm just making sure we're doing our homework on every possibility, no matter how extreme."

• Fredericton Playhouse urges municipalities to support replacement 
• Future location of new Fredericton Playhouse unclear 

But there's one little problem.​

Ericson said repairs like this trigger new building code requirements, and he doesn't believe exemptions from such guidelines are possible, since they're to protect public safety.

"They can't just move left and right to suit budget lines," he said.  

So city staff are asking officials to see whether they can look at refurbishing a heating and cooling system without prompting new code requirements.

There have been people operating in and out of the Playhouse for 40 years in our community, or longer.-Coun. Greg Ericson

"If it turns out the fire marshal and other people responsible for the building codes can find ways to allow the city to do major repairs and to do renewals so that it doesn't trigger the new building code requirements, that changes the story," he said.

"I've seen no evidence that that's possible yet."

However, until then, he said a new performing arts centre is the only option that will keep costs down and maintain the level of performance Fredericton residents are accustomed to.

"The important thing to remember is the city wants to make sure this facility is available to deliver the best quality programming that the Playhouse Inc.  can provide," he said. "It needs to be reliable for them to do so."

Ericson said he's also heard from members of the community that they'd like the old building to stay put.

"They have a tremendous attachment to that building," he said. "There have been people operating in and out of the Playhouse for 40 years in our community, or longer."

Location not yet determined

In November, Mayor Mike O'Brien announced a new centre to replace the Playhouse would be on the site of the York Street parking lot behind City Hall, next to the Justice Building.

But earlier this year, the Gallant government announced it would be spending $76 million to renovate the Centennial Building in downtown Fredericton and add a five-storey courthouse.

"Not knowing where the building's going prevents us from doing architectural plans … that are required to begin the big public fundraising programs and to really start budgeting for the costs," said Ericson.

Although the city has let both provincial and federal governments know about its plans to build a new performing arts centre, it has not received any commitment from those levels.

"We're not in a position right now where they have to or can make a commitment," he said.  

With a $14 million commitment to the project, Ericson said, the city wouldn't go ahead with the project without more funding in place.

"The city itself is not in a position to fund the full project," he said.