A PLAN to raze Finley's War Memorial Hall has been halted with Berrigan Council now aiming to solve the site's termite problem by demolishing an adjoining annex.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A motion will go to the shire's meeting on Wednesday based on the hall being split from the neighbouring School of Arts building by the removal of an annex which links both structures.
It involves the council engaging architects to develop new plans with facilities, such as toilets, rejigged under a plan preserving both buildings under separate committees of management.
The shire had planned to demolish the hall and replace it with a park but community feedback sparked a rethink.
Berrigan mayor Bernard Curtin said 300 replies to the council's survey found an even split between those wanting the hall to go and those wanting it to remain.
"Council has gone from straight out demolishing the hall to doing nothing or splitting the halls, that's what it amounts to," Cr Curtin said.
"What we're trying to do is please everybody and I think this could work.
"In the final analysis the Finley Memorial Hall is going to be a sports stadium, used for basketball, whereas the School of Arts building is going to an arts and culture centre where they run concerts and plays."
Cr Curtin said the annex's timber construction had encouraged termite infestations and it needed to be demolished to solve that problem.
But the Save the Finley War Memorial Hall Association is not happy with the plan and its member will attend Wednesday's meeting to raise their concerns.
The association's secretary Patricia Boyd said the decision to retain the hall was "an excellent step forward" but questioned the detail of the plan to remove the annex.
She raised concerns that fire emergency exits under the proposal may not be legal.
Mrs Boyd said she wanted the council to consider a fourth option, with three key changes, for the site.
It would involve the annex being replaced with a termite-proof steel-framed version with a glass atrium facing the Newell Highway.
New men's toilets would be built at the rear of the memorial hall with a storeroom formed in their existing location.
A store room in the School of Arts building would be replaced with unisex toilets.
Mrs Boyd said she had sent emails about her plan to Berrigan councillors John Bruce and Matthew Hannan last week but had not received any response.
Reacting to the council survey response, Mrs Boyd said her association had amassed 1400 names opposing the demolition through a paper petition, online petition and letters of protest collected by the association.
