Faced with a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation, Okotoks council made the right decision last week.
At the end of yet another lengthy discussion on a joint theatre project with the Foothills School Division, civic politicians decided to pull the plug on the undertaking amid a variety of concerns.
The Town saw the opportunity to partner with the school division on a theatre at a high school to be built in the Wedderburn neighbourhood in north Okotoks as a cost-effective way to provide the wider community with a long sought after amenity. It pledged $6.5 million earlier this year, but soon after red flags started appearing as costs escalated and concerns surfaced over a lack of project control and access not being as fulsome as some members of the arts community would have liked.
In the end, instead of spending a whole bunch of money to get something that isn’t exactly what was desired, the project was shelved. That avoids hitting any future potholes, but not moving ahead means an honest-to-goodness theatre, not a refurbished church masquerading as a theatre, remains at the top of the wish list for the performing arts community
The cost for the Town to build its own stand-alone facility dwarfs the outlay required in the school division partnership, so there’s a legitimate concern that by not proceeding with the project, nothing gets built, at least not in the foreseeable future.
That's a distinct possibility, and not a welcome thought, but it’s likely the lesser of two evils when compared to investing millions of dollars in something that doesn’t ultimately meet your needs.
Stopping the theatre project before any significant money was spent is, on balance, the right move, but finding yourself back at square one with no alternative in sight is far from an ideal scenario.
