Following a Roxburgh Entertainment Centre project steering group meeting last week, the Central Otago District Council released a statement saying the group was considering a "community-driven proposal to explore alternative locations for the new facility".
The original Roxburgh Entertainment Centre was badly damaged by fire on Waitangi Day and eventually demolished.
The projectionist at the cinema in the entertainment centre for the past 15 years, Curtis Crawford, said he was furious to find out from the Otago Daily Times that alternative sites were now being discussed.
However, Roxburgh Entertainment Centre project steering group spokesman Alastair Monteath said the committee was simply being transparent with the community, as promised.
Mr Monteath would not comment on the specific site under consideration but the ODT understands it is in Scotland St (State Highway 8) across the road from the main shopping centre, next to the public toilets.
Mr Monteath said now was the time to consider all options before plans were drawn and money allocated.
"If we have it back on the original site, we’re looking at basically a town hall, a theatre and a movie theatre.
"But if we bring something forward into the middle of town, you could look at all sorts of options in there, not just a movie theatre and a town hall.
"You could look at things like a courtyard, a wine bar, a small movie theatre, the big auditorium out the back and other rooms, possibly what the community might want, but more of a central hub rather than just a theatre, a movie theatre and a town hall."
Mr Monteath said his commitment to the rebuild was two-fold.
As a design draftsman he was drawn to the possibilities for the new building and he had been involved in the Roxburgh Entertainment Centre since he was 4 years old.
"No-one was angrier than I was when it burned down ... but it’s an opportunity now to do something quite special."
Nevertheless, social media commenters were spirited in their disapproval of the steering group’s idea, citing history, parking and a tight budget as reasons to maintain the status quo.
Mr Crawford said the community should have been informed, preferably at a public meeting, before information was sent to media.
"I think the biggest issue the locals have is something as important as that, you shouldn’t read it in the media before the locals know about it.
"The steering group is supposed to keep the locals informed, but they haven’t even had a local meeting.
"All they’ve done is set up a dropbox and an email address and that only works for certain people ... people like to have a meeting and all get around and have a good yarn about it. They know the pros and cons and they get to hear the pros and cons of some of these ideas before they get too far."
Mr Crawford said the community just needed something functional.
"I’m all about functional — I mean it could be ugly as on the outside and we can add to that later by fundraising, but I don’t want to see them waste lots of money on something that looks pretty and is absolutely useless."
Investigators were unable to determine the cause of the February fire.
The site was cleared immediately and has remained empty.
In August, the Teviot Valley Community Board appointed Sally Smith, Sarah Moore, David Weatherall and Mr Monteath to the steering group.
