by Regional Councillors have voted against funding a design study for a Central Library on the Sydney waterfront.
The study would cost an estimated $1.5 million while the project itself has been pegged at about $32 million.
At this afternoon’s council meeting, District 5 Councillor Eldon MacDonald proposed a motion for the municipality to put $500,000 into the study, and that motion was later amended to give a one-third contribution to the study.
The motion was defeated after other councillors raised concerns about the uncertainty of project costs and whether Ottawa and the province are committed to sharing those costs.
The vote came after the municipality gave Harbour Royale Developments the exclusive right to develop land near the Sydney marine terminal for a project that will include a library.
Mayor Amanda McDougall says the municipality still wants a new library but it needs guidance on how that goal is going to be met.
McDougall says she’s scheduled to meet next week with Premier Iain Rankin and the Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs, and one of the items on the agenda will be how the municipality can move forward with the library project.