Tenants housed in Deep River’s aged community centre won’t have to pack their bags anytime soon, though there is some confusion as to who is responsible for the building’s upkeep.
Concerns over the future of the building were brought to town council last week by Eileen Burke, president of the Deep River and District Hospital Auxiliary.
The auxiliary operates the Whistle Stop thrift store in the community centre and, since 1974, has raised more than $2 million for capital improvements to the hospital. Other tenants in the building are the bowling alley and Potters’ Guild.
Burke told council that, with the auxiliary’s lease set to expire within the next few years, finding other locations in town for the Whistle Stop is not an easy task.
“It’s quite difficult, and there’s not much available,” she said.
Sean Patterson, the town’s chief administrative officer, explained at the meeting that, while the municipality owns the community centre, it leases it to the Deep River Community Association (DRCA) for the nominal fee of one dollar a year, and the DRCA in turn leases it to the building’s three tenants.
And, when the town took ownership of the building from AECL back in 1972, a stipulation was registered on its title that the building would function as a community centre until 2032.
The building is not, however, functioning very well at the moment in terms of structural issues.
“It’s a declining structure that would cost more to fix properly than it would to replace,” Patterson said, going on to address the 2032 deadline…
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