INSULATOR SHOW
RUNNING AGAINST CANCER
Bob Scafe talks insulators, and the appeal of the shiny / Page 3
The annual Terry Fox Run raises money for cancer research / Page 9
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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
THEATRE DESIGN UNVEILED
OFF TO THE
RACES? A preliminary outline from the Sagebrush Agri Society of the horse racing track it wants to establish across the street from the rodeo grounds. Michael Potestio/Herald
Building concept planned for the corner of Garcia Street and Coutlee Avenue Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Last Thursday, the Nicola Valley Theatre Society was shown the concept art and building schematic for the 550seat cinema and performing arts centre they hope to build on the corner of Garcia Street and Coutlee Avenue. Architect Chris Allen with Landform Design Build Ltd. presented the plans and said the 14,000 square-foot building is designed to incorporate local materials and style. The plans show the parametres of a four-bay theatre with three 100-seat theatres on one side of the building and a larger 250-seat theatre across the hall. By comparison, the lecture theatre at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology sits 144. All four theatres are designed to contain movie screens and
stages, and the designs show 1,200 square feet of storage space behind the stage of the largest theatre. The plans also outline the basic layout of the building’s concession, parking spaces, multipurpose room, green room and its washrooms. The primary structure will be concrete and steel, while the exterior of the building is proposed to incorporate wood slats between steal verticals. This is modeled after the cladding of the town’s historic Coldwater Hotel. Allen said architecture at its best is an expression of a town’s culture. “This culture has a history in ranching, the forest industry, so that creates a certain material palate that’s appropriate to Merritt, and so we’re trying to draw on that,” Allen said. “If we do that, then we’re
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able to use local contractors, local sawmills, local concrete plants — local producers to build the building — which truly makes it a public enterprise, and it spreads the money that’s being raised for the theatre back out into the community.” The amount of time Allen estimates it will take to construct this theatre is one year and the building will fill about twothirds of the property. It’s lifespan is estimated at 50 to 100 years depending on maintenance, Allen said. The facility is designed to act as both a movie theatre and a performing arts centre. It will run as a non-profit, with funds from movie tickets helping to support the performing arts function of the facility, said society spokesperson Kurt Christopherson. He told the Herald the movie
Submitted photo
theatre operations, however, will be run like any other business, with regular employees paid to maintain and operate the facility. The three smaller theatres will show Hollywood movies, Christopherson said. “Without first-run movies, we can’t compete with Kamloops,” he said. The design plans now in place, the next step for the society is to raise money and find in-kind support for the construction of the building, which will cost an estimated $3.2 million. The cost of the architectural design plans alone is about $136,000. Christopherson said these designs are a huge step forward as the community can now see what this theatre will look like if they can get it off the ground.
See ‘Theatre’ Page 3
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Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Merritt stands to get a little more country as the Sagebrush Agri Park Society wants to establish a horse racing track and an equine learning centre in the Nicola Valley. Society president Malcolm Lynn was at city council’s regular meeting Tuesday (Sept. 15) asking to use the property along Lindley Creek Road, across the street from the rodeo grounds, to build a $10 million horse racing facility. Lynn says the society plans to fund this initiative from provincial and federal grants. The reason he wants to build this track here is because Merritt is horse country. “The federal government says, according to [Statistics Canada], that there’s 90,000 horses within a 100 mile radius of Merritt,” he told council. The land Lynn intends to use for the track consists of both City of Merritt and Thompson-Nicola Regional District land as well as some private land.
See ‘Horse’ Page 3