TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Council selling crown jewels to highest bidder but there’s ...
THE council has voted to sell the Bruce Bishop carpark and Surfers Paradise Transit Centre but only after imposing last-minute conditions to preserve parkland on the site. Any future developer will also have to provide a set-down area for buses and retain at least 740 car parks. The asset sale, masterminded by Mayor Tom Tate, will help pay for stage one of the cultural precinct at Bundall and an upgraded bridge at the Isle of Capri. The land on which the carpark stands was gifted to the city in 1938 by Charles Joseph Hicks on the condition it be kept as a park. The sale could net as much as $100 million.
THE developer who buys the Bruce Bishop carpark and Surfers Paradise Transit Centre will have to incorporate parkland and a set-down area for buses into the project.
They will also have to commit to retaining at least 740 car parks following a lastminute amendment to the terms of the controversial asset sale, which was signed off by the council yesterday.
The proceeds of the selloff, which could be as much as $100 million, will help pay for stage one of the cultural precinct at Bundall and an upgraded bridge at the Isle of Capri.
But furious Surfers Paradise councillor Gary Baildon slammed the decision as immoral and unethical and claimed it would destroy Surfers Paradise.
Mayor Tom Tate, who masterminded the asset sale, said the carpark and parkland on its roof were disused and costing ratepayers money.
Cr Baildon was one of four councillors who voted against the sale after a debate lasting more than two hours and a protest by about 100 people.
“Do we want to be known as the council that destroyed Surfers Paradise?” Cr Baildon said.
The land on which the carpark stands was gifted to the city in 1938 by Charles Joseph Hicks on the condition it be kept as a park.
A previous council built the carpark but preserved a park on top of the structure.
Cr Baildon said he felt the sale was against the wishes of the Hicks family but Cr Tate said those intentions had long since been debased.
“I think the damage was done when the park was raised to two and a half storeys,” he said.
Cr Tate said the carpark was underused and at 10am yesterday there were fewer than 360 cars parked there.
Council figures show that at peak times about 640 car parks are in use, leaving about 1000 free.
Cr William Owen-Jones introduced the amendment, which will ensure a future developer sets aside land for a park, provides at least 740 car parks and retains space for buses to set down passengers.
The civic space must have the “ability for flexibility to cater for a variety of … uses with supporting management, programming of activities and maintenance”.
Cr Tate said he felt those conditions would make the area attractive to buyers.
Earlier, protesters including former councillor Eddy Sarroff appealed for the sale to be stopped. “Once this is sold we will never be able to get it back again,” he said.
Council will now call for buyer expressions of interest.
DO WE WANT TO BE KNOWN AS THE COUNCIL THAT DESTROYED SURFERS PARADISE? COUNCILLOR GARY BAILDON