City council voted 36-2 on Wednesday to include the return of the Garden of the Greek god statues to the city as a condition of amending Muzik’s lease on Exhibition Place grounds.

Councillor Mike Layton said council’s decision will “right an historic wrong” that occurred when the city signed a lease with Muzik in 2004 to run a nightclub in the Horticulture Building, where the statues were located.

“The statues were placed around a historic building, we included them as part of the grounds. That was wrong,” Layton told council.

“We shouldn’t be including public art from a world famous Canadian sculptor and selling it, essentially, or disposing of it for years so that no one could see it.”

In 2014, the Muzik owners built a fence enclosing a patio around the club, and within it, the twenty limestone statues sculpted by artist E.B. Cox.

“I am absolutely delighted,” Cox’s daughter Kathy Sutton wrote in an email Wednesday.

“As Councillor Layton said, it was completely wrong to allow it to be fenced in and accessible only to the patrons of a nightclub. After all, it was intended for families - especially children - to enjoy and climb on!”

Sutton has been pushing to get the statues moved to a rose garden, south of the Bandshell, on Exhibition Place grounds.

The Star was unable to reach Muzik owner Zlatko Starkovski for comment. The amended conditional lease would allow Muzik to hold 30 banquets a year and occasional trade and consumer shows. Starkovski has said he is looking to move away from the nightclub business and host other events.

Councillor Jim Karygiannis, who sits on the Exhibition Place board of governors with Layton, voted against the new lease terms and conditions on Wednesday, saying they were “unnecessary.”

“Z (Zlatko) has already signalled he was agreeable,” (to release the statues), Karygiannis said.

Muzik’s request to extend its lease to 2024 remains unresolved.

In June, the board of governors voted against Layton’s motion tying the amended lease to the release of the statues.

Layton said the city must still figure out how to pay for the relocation “and when we do move them we will return the grounds for the tenant back to a suitable level.”

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Sutton says she hopes to “rally members of the arts community to find ways to help fund the move, as much as possible.”

With files from Oliver Sachgau