It appears the Town of Collingwood and Theatre Collingwood will back away from a proposed theatre on the site of the former Tremont Hotel.

Mayor Chris Carrier said CAO Gordon Norris will be speaking with representatives from Theatre Collingwood next week and will recommend that both sides back away and dissolve the memorandum of understanding that was signed in September.

"It's time to take a step back and look at what we want to do," he said. "I'm expecting a positive outcome on this."

Under the terms of the document, the town would rent the property to the theatre group for a nominal fee and the theatre would construct a performing arts venue on the site at their own cost.

One of the sticking points that arose was who was going to pay for a study to determine whether a portion, or all, of the old Tremont Hotel could be incorporated into the project. The study was expected to cost about $8,700.

At Monday's meeting, Counc. Norman Sandberg proposed that if the municipality and Theatre Collingwood dissolve the memorandum of understanding, the town put out a request for proposals for the former hotel site.

Carrier said the request for proposal process would be done in the public forum and expects all sorts of proposals from an arts centre to commercial and residential developments.

"We can have those discussions," he said.

Counc. Sonny Foley said before they move forward with any project on the site, the town should check whether the brick on the building is in decent shape.

"I get very frustrated with all of these discussions," he said.