Adelaide City Council votes to oppose Adelaide Oval hotel plan

Adelaide City councillors have unanimously rejected the plan to build a boutique hotel at the Adelaide Oval, with one declaring it echoes of “billboards on the Sydney Opera House”.

Members of the public showing their support for the council's unanimous vote to oppose an Adelaide Oval Hotel at Town Hall on Tuesday. Picture: MATT LOXTON

ADELAIDE City councillors have unanimously rejected the plan to build a boutique hotel at the Adelaide Oval, with one declaring it echoes “billboards on the Sydney Opera House”.

To enthusiastic applause from a packed public gallery, councillors on Tuesday night voted to strongly oppose the Stadium Management Authority’s proposal to build a hotel outside the Oval’s eastern gate.

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor will immediately write to Premier Steven Marshall and members of his cabinet outlining the council’s position.

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor

But councillors have admitted their opposition won’t hinder the SMA plan, which is backed by $42 million from the State Government. They flagged a potential push to change the category of developments in the Parklands so they can have a say on proposals for the green belt.

At its final meeting of the year the council discussed a proposal from outspoken councillor Anne Moran.

Cr Moran originally called for the council to withhold landlord consent from the project but amended it because planning changes made by the previous State Government meant the development didn’t need lessor approval.

“The purpose is to show just how wrong we think this is and how wrong our ratepayers think this is,” she said. “And not just our ratepayers but people across the state.”

Ms Verschoor had previously said she would be prepared to protect the Parklands from “commercial development”, saying the SMA would have a “commercial advantage” that other developers in Adelaide don’t have because they don’t pay for the land, council rates or land tax.

Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad said the $42 million backing would undermine city hotels.

An artist’s impression of the proposed hotel at Adelaide Oval.

“In 2011 when the (Oval redevelopment legislation) was being taking to the Legislative Council and the Liberals were sitting up there, they would have 100 per cent voted down a Adelaide Oval hotel if it was part of the lease.

“I’ll be saying this quite bluntly, it doesn’t feel like to me there has been a change of Government — we have seen this happen before a lot.

“Where we have seen specific business, specific institutions get preferential treatment over others. We’ve heard from the hotels association and we have heard from the hotels.

“The core business of a stadium is to hold sporting events, concerts and entertainment events, they are not hoteliers so unless they are going to bring in a third party hotel operator, which will make the lease interesting for council, I don’t know how they are going to do this.”

Cr Robert Simms said it was “commercialisation of our public space being bankrolled by the State Government”.

“If this gets the green light, we will see the Adelaide Oval become a moated community,” he said.

“I should also point out that the building itself is an icon for our city, and the idea that you mess with an icon by building on top of it is moving down the same path as we saw in Sydney where we see billboards on the Opera House.”

Cr Phil Martin said it was “repugnant”.

“In my view the Stadium Management Authority does not have the capacity to manage its affairs without this income stream,” he said.

“This council receives nothing from Government enterprise on the parklands including the stadium, however the Stadium Management Authority is required to pay a fee to the Government every year and in 2019/20 it is $1 million.

“The State Government is agreeing to an income stream (by doing this).”