The Burns Lake village council has posted a survey on social media to gather opinions on what to do with the Anglican Church.
The survey, asking the question “What does the future hold for the Anglican Church?” went up on Facebook on March 12.
The future of the church on First Avenue, which opened in 1929 and has a heritage designation has been the subject of much discussion in Burns Lake.
READ MORE: Church restoration needs leader, meeting hears
The idea was raised by the village’s chief administrative officer Sheryl Worthing during the Feb. 26 council meeting.
“Staff and I had a meeting with the executive of the [Burns Lake] Rotary Club and we had a really good discussion on their funding that they could use towards the Anglican Church,” she said.
“We don’t know what other ideas are out there…Let’s see what ideas we get and we’ll incorporate those back into the report we give to council.”
Worthing explained that the last time the council made an online survey - on “The Village of Burns Lake Financial Plan” in mid-January - it proved effective and received 89 responses.
“Give us your ideas. What are things we haven’t thought about at this point?” she asked, as an example of a survey question.
Many people in Burns Lake agree the church should be restored, but the costs are high and the questions of who will take charge of the restoration and when it will happen remain answered.
One solution for the church building that has received a lot of attention is turning it into an art gallery, an idea with some support in the community.
LOOK BACK: Burns Lake art gallery initiators hope 2019 sees bid become reality
The previous council under former mayor Chris Beach set aside $50,000 in seed money towards restoring the building and the art gallery bid.
In the Feb. 13 public meeting on the future of the church, George Magee said the Burns Lake Rotary Club might be able to provide some money for restoration from a fund containing more than $100,000 which was donated by the MacEwen family.
Blair McBride
Multimedia reporter
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