THE inclusion of the proposed planetarium in the designs for the Orange Regional Museum could shore up government funding for the stalled museum project, the planetarium president says.
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Southern Skies Earth and Space Centre president Rod Somerville said he hoped the group could work with the museum committee to come up with an arrangement where the planetarium could co-exist with the museum in the Civic Centre precinct.
The idea was hotly debated in Orange City Council on Tuesday night but Mr Somerville said he wanted to make it clear the planetarium committee did not want to take over the museum, rather enhance it.
The cost of the Southern Skies Earth and Space Centre could come down from nearly $10 million to up to $3 million if it was incorporated into the completed designs for the museum.
“We’ll have to make compromises and scale back our original plans but creating a precinct with the museum, the gallery ... it makes sense in that location,” he said.
“We can help each other.”
The museum’s $4 million government grant is in limbo after the Coalition was elected in September because a contract had not been signed under the Labor government who pledged the funding from the Regional Development Australia Fund.
Councillors are worried any change in design or plan of the museum would be the excuse the federal government needed to pull out from the project altogether.
“It might actually strengthen the funding application, “ Mr Somerville said.
Council staff will prepare cost estimates for the integration of the planetarium into the museum design.
nicole.kuter@fairfaxmedia.com.au
