Last week, following a Roxburgh Entertainment Centre project steering group meeting, 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".
Projectionist at the cinema in the entertainment centre for the past 15-years Curtis Crawford was furious to find out from the Otago Daily Times that alternative sites were being discussed.
However, Roxburgh Entertainment Centre Project Steering Group spokesman Alastair Monteath said the committee was simply considering all options presented to them.
Mr Monteath would not comment on the specific site but the Otago Daily Times understands it is across the road from the main shopping centre, next to the public toilets.
Mr Crawford said the community should have been informed, preferably at a public meeting, before the information was sent to the 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," Mr Crawford said.
"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."
"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."
While social media commenters had raised concerns, such as parking, if an alternative site was chosen those issues were fixable, he said.
It was possible the new building could be used more by the community if it was arrested and redesigned.
"The whole brief changes when you bring it into town. . . you could have a wine bar and a courtyard and a wee stage outside for all sorts of performance, you know, busking performances or open mic nights or as well as other rooms in there for, I don’t know, a toy library. There’s all sorts of ideas that come forward."
Mr Monteath’s commitment to the rebuild was two-fold.
While his background as a design draftsman meant he was drawn to the possibilities for the new building and its public appeal, 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, or maybe just as much, but it’s an opportunity now to do something quite special, not just a town hall, not just a movie theatre but a bit more — a multipurpose building."
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."
In February the building was destroyed by fire. Investigators were unable to determine the cause of the fire. The site was cleared immediately and has remained empty since. In August the Teviot Valley Community Board appointed Sally Smith, Sarah Moore, David Weatherall and Mr Monteath.
At the time of their appointment council property and facilities manager Garreth Robinson said the steering group would be the conduit of information to the community.
The biggest stakeholders in the entertainment centre would be engaged in the design process, Mr Robinson said.
Council community experience manager David Scoones said, for example, the Roxburgh entertainment centre improvement and promotions group, which operated the cinema in the building, would be directly involved with the steering group and design team to put across everything they would want in the new building.
Other groups would have focused workshops and sessions, with all information going to the steering group to understand how it would all work together.
Mr Robinson said he recommended community drop-in sessions once concept designs were available. That had worked well in Cromwell, where the designer of its new hall had used virtual reality to allow people to "walk through" the planned spaces.
