London city council voted in favour of getting more information about building a performing arts centre before taking any more steps forward.

Many of the councillors present at Tuesday night’s meeting said they didn’t want to make a hasty decision and that there was no deadline for this council to decide on anything. Reports about the deficit that Kitchener-Waterloo’s arts centre recently ran up also had councillors worried.

The city has hired consulting company Novita to give it a formal business plan for the development, studies on a market analysis, facility program and design criteria, and a site analysis. The studies could take up to eight weeks until they’re presented.

However, the decision about a performing arts centre for the city may be up to the next elected council. The last day for this council to make a decision on major funding requests is September 12. The last full council meeting before then is scheduled for September 2.

The proposed entertainment centre, called the “Celebration Centre,” would cost $164-million with an 1,800 seat concert hall and attached condominiums.

*With files from Avery Moore