The facility is proposed for the McDermott Centre, with an adaptive re-use of that building. The new design was shown to the audience in a video presentation.

The crowd was there to overwhelmingly show their support for the proposed Performing Arts Centre, with many passionately expressing their views that such a facility was long overdue in this city.

“I have 150 children with nowhere to perform. They need somewhere to dance in this city right now,” dance teacher Lizz Barling said.

This sentiment was echoed by Linda Yeadon, who said: "my son is 18, so all of his life there has been no Performing Arts Centre in our town - that’s disgusting! We need a home for the performing arts.” 

Drama teacher Jock McLean got massive applause when he urged the council to move forward with the plans to build it. 

“I know how much the arts improves the quality of life for all people. We need this centre now. I have worked in Sale, Orange, Bathurst and Armidale. These are mature cities - surely we can also be a mature city that values its sport, commerce and all the varieties of performing arts that are here already? This will make Goulburn - let’s not stop this now.”

Parking was raised as the main issue in opposition to the facility, with some claiming their businesses would be affected. 

Goulburn Mulwaree’s growth, strategy and culture director Louise Wakefield pointed out that a recent parking survey had shown that there was “ample parking space” of up to 650 car parking spaces within 200m of the McDernmott Centre. 

“The CBD Working Party was established in 2015 to investigate parking and other issues,” Ms Wakefield said.

“Statistics indicate there is more than sufficient parking for current needs in the CBD and that peak usage will generally occur outside normal business hours.

“The Working Party also looked at increasing the connectivity for pedestrians to the CBD from parking areas at such places as Ellesmere St and Cartwright Place. We need to look at where other parking areas are in the CBD and how we connect to those areas. They also looked at availability drop off areas and disability parking.” 

FIC Newsagency owner Janine Chatfield responded to this presentation by saying she was concerned about how many parking spaces would be taken away.

“How much closure of the street will occur and for how long?” She asked. 

“What disruption will my business incur?”

Goulburn Mulwaree general manager Warwick Bennett responded by saying: “businesses will not be affected. You will not lose any parking out the front of your business.”

Ms Chatfield also expressed concerns about a cost blowout on the project.

“I am also concerned at the cost of it, which has risen from to $11.4m to $12.1m. If you have $98m in the bank why are you borrowing money? What is the expected cost? I want a business plan for the public to read, which includes how this will affect ratepayers in this town.” 

Mr Bennet said the council now had to determine whether to reduce the scope of the facility to fit in with the $11.4m, use its reserves, or go for more grant money

“There are many options that we will be putting to council later,” Mr Bennett said. 

“The council is putting $3m into it. We are borrowing $5m to do other projects as well. Council can borrow money from the state government at 3.5% below market rate, so we are expecting the interest rate to be about 2 per cent, which is great for borrowing money

“The worst case scenario is that at the end of 20 years, the council will have to use 6 per cent of its income to repay the loan. It is a low repayment.”

Mr Bennett said Goulburn needed this facility.

“Why does Goulburn need this? We believe are a maturing community and it is time that we had a facility like this. I am not being disrespectful to sportspeople, but there is more to a city than sport, sport, sport.”