No arts space coming to Waterloo church

A Waterloo church will not be used as an arts space.

Waterloo City Council continued the contentious discussion around the future of St Columba Church on Lincoln Road Monday night, and voted not to make it an interim arts space.

A dedicated crowd of delegates and supporters of the arts community were once again in attendance, following a council meeting earlier this month. The report from staff had proposed that the church be used for three years as an arts space before being demolished and replaced with affordable townhouse units.

There were accessibility and financial concerns with the proposal, with councillors like Ward 4 Councillor Diane Freeman saying the city supports the arts in many other ways.

“I am broken to have this suggestion that if I don’t support this motion, that I don’t support the arts, because it’s just totally not true.”

If passed, $500,000 would have been put aside for three years to have the space used for the arts community.

Ward 2 Councillor Royce Bodaly was one of the three councillors voting in support of the motion, saying turning the proposal down hurts Waterloo’s reputation.

“When we next ask the arts community to come forward, why wouldn’t they focus their efforts on other cities? Why would they bother to partner with the City of Waterloo?”

He was joined by Ward 7 Councillor Julie Wright and Ward 5 Councillor Jen Vasic in support of bringing in the arts space.

Vasic says there is clearly a passion and a need for more arts funding in Waterloo.

“We scrutinize them with question, after question, after question. So I hope we remember and we think about who we are asking several questions to, and who we are not, and why.”

Moving forward, city staff will come back in the fall with the next steps in making the space an affordable housing site.