When it comes to restoring the old Anglican Church, Burns Lake residents know roughly how much it will cost and what to spend that money on, but they don’t know who will do it, or when.
That was the take-home message of a public meeting held in the Burns Lake council chamber on Feb. 13.
A dozen members of the public turned up to share ideas and raise concerns on what to do with the building on First Avenue, which opened in 1929 and was given heritage designation in 2005.
George Magee, speaking as he said on behalf of the Rotary Club said the organization has a fund containing more than $100,000 which was donated by the MacEwen family and that it could offer as seed money to restore the church.
“If we involve ourselves we would like the MacEwen name attached in the building,” he added.
However, Magee pointed out that the Burns Lake Rotary Club isn’t interested in owning the church or any of the land, nor in maintaining it.
“We are interested in helping in any way we can to find a way to utilize the church so that it’s self-operational…[And] we would like to use the church to have our meetings and would pay a reasonable rental fee.”
Under the previous mayoral council of Chris Beach, $50,000 in seed money was set aside for renovating the church and making it into an art gallery.
Adding to Magee’s input, Lori White explained the Rotary Club’s contribution could lead to more funding for the restoration.
“If there’s $50,000 in reserve and the Rotary Club has a very generous amount of money available, I don’t think it would be difficult to double that amount through some grant writing. And $200,000 would go…a long ways. Maybe [we could] even put a basic kitchen in that building. And it could be used for meetings or Girl Guides or Cub Scouts. If it was usable you’d be surprised how much it was actually used,” White said.
A possible precedent for the church is what the museum society in Smithers did to restore an Anglican Church there, as Magee explained.
“They have made it relevant and self-sustaining by using it for a number of different venues. I think they rented it about 150 times last year. They were able to have enough funds to maintain the church without any expenses coming from the city of Smithers. I think that would be the ideal thing here as well.”
Sandra Barth noted in response that that church has a kitchen which has helped it become rent able.
“That would add substantially to the costs of restoring the church. $70,000-$80,000. Its kitchen makes it easier for catering. Without a kitchen you would have difficulty renting it.”
For Wayne Brown, a nagging issue is the large rosette stained glass window inside the church.
“Nothing can be done until that window is fixed. And that’s the heart of the matter. It’s essential. We have someone from Smithers who can do the repairs….There’s been no budgeting set aside for the repairs - hopefully i’m wrong on that. It’s a real crime to see such a beautiful institution like that building deteriorate to such an extent.”
It has been estimated that the window would cost $3,000 to restore.
But, as Michael Riis-Christianson said, one of the biggest unresolved issues is who will take control of the restoration.
“We have a heritage building that can be used for public purposes and it’s deteriorating. It’s imperative…that some organization takes control of it. It has to be done.”
Riis-Christianson mentioned that there is strong interest for turning the building into an art gallery, a project that has been in the planning stages for more than a year.
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In White’s view, once a funding agreement is made between the village and the Rotary Club, and physical restorations are done, the building could be incorporated with the Lakes District Museum Society and then be open to the public.
“At least there could be some governing body like the Museum Society that would manage the activities in and out of that building.”
And if the art gallery moves into the building, the gallery operators would work with the Museum Society, she said.
At the end of the meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Sheryl Worthing said a report would be prepared based on the meeting and brought before council at a later date.
Blair McBride
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