The board recommended to the Central Otago District Council in a board meeting yesterday that the Roxburgh Entertainment Centre project steering group be given approval to explore alternative locations for the centre. .
Council property officer Tara Bates said the steering group saw the project as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a facility that will serve the community well into the future".
The steering group saw benefit in investigating options for its location and whether its present Scotland St site was still the most suitable location, she said.
Most board members were supportive of the proposal to allow the steering group to look into alternative locations, with board member Gill Booth saying she was happy for new sites to be explored.
But ultimately it was up to the community and what they wanted, she said.
"I’m just saying ‘explore all options’, whatever site that may be."
Deputy chairman Curtis Pannett said the question was worth asking.
The only board member to vote against the proposal was Becky Slade.
While Ms Slade spoke of the importance of public consultation during discussion, she ultimately voted against the proposal and asked to have her vote put on the record.
Ms Slade said based on her conversations with members of the community, she got the impression that people wanted the council to just get on with building at the present location.
"The sentiment that I had heard was ‘let’s just build it and let’s get it done’."
Ms Slade said it was the community that elected her, and she had to listen to what they had to say.
The investigation into alternative sites would add at least five months to the rebuild project and is expected to cost between $20,000 and $40,000, funded by the insurance payout.
The entertainment centre was badly damaged by fire on Waitangi Day and was eventually demolished.
The building that housed it was erected in 1893 and started showing films in 1897.
It once was part of a Guinness World Records claim of being the longest continuously-running movie theatre in the world.
