Staff Report
BRANT NEWS

The Brantford Arts Block is no closer to securing $300,000 in municipal funding toward the future Brantford Centre for the Arts.

Meeting as committee of the whole on Monday, city council again voted to defer its decision until the Arts Block can clarify the future ownership of the former Union Gas building on Colborne Street, where the Arts Block plans to house the proposed arts centre.

City staff has determined that it is in the Arts Block’s best interest to continue to lease the building from development company King and Benton – which in turn leases it from owner Union Gas – until the Ministry of the Environment completes an environmental assessment of the site.

Union Gas has said that it will not sell the building until any needed environmental remediation work is undertaken.

But councillors worry that taxpayers money could disappear if the city invests capital funds in a building not owned by the arts collective. The issue has been ongoing since the spring and will again return to council for consideration.