A hasty decision to save the Appleyard house from Evergreen's wrecking ball is proving to be a bit of a quagmire for Port Moody council.
At Tuesday's meeting the official community plan and zoning bylaw amendments were carried, with objections from councillors Diana Dilworth and Bob Elliott, while Appleyard's new neighbours took issue with plans for its possible location. A fellow neighbour said he didn't want to see a cafe in the house, while David Spence cried foul over it being called Centennial House.
And a lengthy debate over a grant application to pay for all the renovations needed to turn Appleyard from a pizza house into an arts facility could mean taxpayers will be on the hook for nearly a million dollars.
"I have a real problem with the process and I have a real problem with the financial commitment this will tie us to," Dilworth said, adding the entire concept of a second arts facility has gone from "good idea" to a nearly million-dollar commitment too fast and with little public feedback.
Mayor Mike Clay offered cautious support but expressed his concern over the sudden jump in costs.
At the time the Appleyard house was moved in July, the city committed $330,000 for its conversion to an arts facility.
The grant application is for a matching grant of nearly $481,000, with another $100,000 in potential extras. If successful, the grant would also commit the city to a 10-year operating contract estimated at $84,000 annually (of which $65,000 is for a front-desk staff role).
Coun. Gerry Nuttall told The Tri-City News Wednesday the city would likely only receive half the amount requested.
And while Coun. Rick Glumac suggested the grant would be a "win-win" solution for adding space to the crowded Port Moody Arts Centre and preserving an important heritage home, Dilworth noted there are other options for saving the home, such as a commercial lease, that would also be revenue generators.
Clay later withdrew his support for the draft application after hearing it would likely go through several changes before being submitted to the Heritage Legacy fund by the Sept. 30 deadline.
The application was eventually endorsed (with Coun. Rosemary Small, Dilworth and Clay voting against) and the OCP and zoning amendments passed (with Dilworth and Elliott voting against).
As for where it will go on the property at 126 Kyle St. - a location Coun. Elliott would like to see changed to a spot directly beside the Kyle Centre - senior project planner James Chandler said council likely won't be considering that until after they get word on the grant, sometime in early 2013.
